E 
387 

E5 


UC-NRLF 


t-v 


BIOGRAPHY 

Oi1 

MAMTIW  VAN  BURE5T, 

VICE  PRESIDENT 

OF  THE 

UNITED  STATES. 

WITH  A3T. 

APPENDIX, 

CONTAINING  SELECTIONS  FROM  HIS  WRITINGS,  INCLUDING 
HIS  SPEECHES  IN  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 
ON  THE  CLAIMS  OF  THE  SOLDIERS  OF  THE  REVO 
LUTION,  AND  IN  FAVOR  OF  ABOLISHING  IM 
PRISONMENT  FOR  DEBT WITH  OTHER 

VALUABLE     DOCUMENTS,     AMON& 

WHICH  WILL  BE  FOUND    THE 

LATE    LETTER  OF 

COLONEL  THOS.  H.  BENTON, 

TO  THE 
CONVENTION    OF   THE  STATE    OF    MISSISSIPPI. 


COMPILED  AND  EDITED 

BY  WILLIAM  EMMOXS. 


WASHINGTON: 

»aiJTTED  BT  JACOB  GIDEON,  3V. 
1835. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1835,  by 
WIJLLTAM  EMMONS,  in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of 
the  District  of  Columbia. 


PREFACE. 

In  presenting  to  the  American  citizens  a  Biogra 
phy  of  one  of  our  distinguished  DEMOCRATIC  States 
men,  I  feel  that  I  need  not  apologize, — as  I  do  it 
with  feelings  of  patriotic  ardour,  and  for  the  purpose 
of  vindicating  a  character  on  whom  has  been  lavish 
ed  much  personal  and  public  abuse  for  a  long  series 
of  years,  on  account  of  his  early  opposition  to  a  par 
ty  once  recognized  as  the  "  ESSEX  JUNTO,"  but  more 
recently  known  as  the  War  Party  in  peace !  and  the 
Peace  Party  in  war !  occasionally  mantling  them 
selves  beneath  the  imposing  shelter  of  Washington 
and  benevolence!  And  for  this  devotion  to  the  cause 
of  the  people,  he  was  PROSCRIBED  !  by  the  very  Senate 
where  you,  my  countrymen,  have  now  placed  him 
to  preside,  as  a  merited  rebuke  to  such  as  proclaim 
ed  they  were  no  MAN'S  MEN!  As  a  further  proof 
that  the  American  PEOPLE  are  capable  of  SELF  gov 
ernment,  a  portion  of  my  fellow-citizens  have  inform 
ed  such  Senators  that  they  are  no  longer  their  men!! 

He  has  long  been  denounced  as  a  MAGICIAN  !  his 
opponents,  however,  have  been  taught  satisfacto 
rily,  I  trust,  that  the  magic  he  deals  in  has  been  ap 
proved  by  YOU,  the  PEOPLE  !  hence,  I  cannot,  as  an 
independent  freeman,  but  rejoice  at  the  cheering 


iv  PREFACE. 

prospects  before  him,  confident  as  I  am,  that  the 
same  power  which  has  sustained  and  propelled  him 
onward,  will  again  cluster  around,  and  through  him, 
carry  out  the  principles  begun  by  a  JEFFERSON,  and 
thus  far  perfected  by  the  VENERABLE  JACKSON, 
whose  fame  will  endure  "  while  the  earth  bears  a 
plant,  or  the  sea  rolls  its  waves."  No  doubt  he 
will  again  be  opposed  by  a  phalanx,  sustained  as 
they  have  been,  from  the  vaults  of  a  gigantic  BRITISH 
institution,  in  the  disguise  of  a  UNITED  STATES 
BANK,  which,  VAMPIRE-LIKE,  was  fast  preying  on 
the  VITALS  of  the  REPUBLIC  !  Thanks  to  an  over 
ruling  PROVIDENCE!  A  JACKSON,  and  a  BENTON, 
dared  encounter,  and  stay  the  further  progress  of  that 
many  headed  MONSTER  !  seconded,  on  all  occasions^ 
by  the  firm  friend  to  DEMOCRACY,  MARTIN  VAN  Bu- 
REN,  and  nobly  sustained  by  the  American  people. 

For  one,  I  do  not  doubt  the  native  as  well  as 
adopted  FREEMEN  of  my  country,  will,  at  the  ap 
proaching  PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION,  prove  to  the 
surrounding  nations  of  the  earth,  that  American  ci 
tizens  are  superior  to  any  and  all  combinations  that 
have  been  or  may  be  entered  into  for  the  overthrow 
of  DEMOCRACY.  If  such  an  overthrow  be  accom 
plished,  you  then  indeed  would  have  a  constructive, 
instead  of  a  practical  DEMOCRATIC  REPUBLICAN 
GOVERNMENT. 

Forget  not,  the  GOVERNMENT  is  your  own9  and 
your  children  demand  at  your  hands  its  transmission 


PREFACE-  .v 

unimpaired  to  them  as  your  last  best  legacy.     Re 
member  the  Reign  of  Kings  is  hastening  to  decay. 

The  Government  then  of  right,  belongs  to  the 
sovereign  PEOPLE,  before  whom  all  officers  must  bow 
— at  whose  shrine  I  would  ever  be  a  worshipper. 

Behold  then,  Fellow-citizens,  the  tree  of  Liber 
ty! — perched  thereon  is  the  American  Eagle  with  his 
broad  and  spreading  wings,  holding  in  his  beak  a 
SCROLL,  on  which  is  inscribed  VAN  BUBEBT,  DEMOC 
RACY,  UNION  AND  LIBERTY. 

With  these  remarks  I  submit  to  my  countrymen 
the  following  compilation.  The  biographical  sketch 
was  written  by  a  gentleman  intimately  acquainted 
with  the  public  and  private  history  of  Mr.  Van  Bu- 
ren,  for  the  CABINET,  a  literary  publication  which 
appeared  in  1830.  It  was  afterwards  enlarged  by 
its  author  in  the  summer  of  1832.  As  Mr.  Van  Bu- 
ren  was  then  in  nomination  for  the  office  of  Vice 
President,  special  reference  was  made  to  that  circum 
stance,  and  a  strong  conviction  was  expressed  that  he 
would  be  elected  to  that  high  office.  1  have  prefer 
red  to  retain  this  part  of  the  memoir,  although  the 
particular  language  is  no  longer  precisely  applicable 
to  the  present  state  of  things,  because  I  have  no  right 
to  alter  the  language  of  another,  and  more  especially, 
because  by  the  energy  and  virtue  of  the  people,  that 
part  of  it  which  looked  to  the  future,  has  already 
become  history. — The  selection  I  have  made  from 
the  speeches  and  writings  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  will 


vi  PREFACE. 

not  only  illustrate  and  verify  many  of  the  statements 
in  the  biography;  but  will  exhibit  the  sound,  demo 
cratic  and  statesman-like  principles,  by  which  his  pub 
lic  conduct  has  been  governed,  and  which  have  hith 
erto  commanded  the  public  approbation.  The 
speech  of  Mr.  FORSYTH,  on  the  nomination  of  Mr. 
Van  Buren  as  minister  to  Great  Britain,  in  secret  ses 
sion  of  the  Senate  in  1832,  the  correspondence  with 
the  PRESIDENT  on  the  same  point,  and  the  late  letter 
of  COL.  BENTON,  being  all  connected  with  the  sub 
ject  of  this  volume,  and  highly  valuable  in  them 
selves,  will,  I  hope,  be  interesting  to  my  readers. 
And  I  trust  that  the  cheering  anticipations  and  patri 
otic  wishes,  which  have  led  me  to  prepare  this  com 
pilation,  will  be  confirmed  by  the  sovereign  People 
of  these  UNITED  STATES  in  the  election  of  1836. 
To  the  American  public, 

WM.  EMMONS. 
Washington,  Feb.  22,  1835, 


BIOGRAPHY 

OF 

MARTIN   VAN    BUREN, 

OF  NEW-YORK. 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN  was  born  at  Kinder- 
hook,  in  the  county  of  Columbia,  and  state  of  New- 
York,  on  the  5th  of  December,  1782.  He  is  the 
eldest  son  of  Abraham  Van  Buren,  an  upright  and 
intelligent  man,  whose  virtuous  conduct  and  amiable 
temper  enabled  him  to  pass  through  a  long  life,  not 
only  without  an  enemy,  but  without  ever  being  in 
volved  in  contention  or  controversy.  His  mother,  a 
woman  of  excellent  sense  and  pleasing  manners,  was 
twice  married,  Mr.  Van  Buren  being  her  second 
husband.  Both  parents  were  exclusively  of  Dutch 
decent;  their  ancestors  being  among  the  most  re 
spectable  of  those  emigrants  from  Holland,  who  esta 
blished  themselves,  in  the  earliest  period  of  our 
colonial  .history,  in  the  ancient  settlement  of  Kin- 
derhook.  They  died  at  advanced  ages;  the  father  in 
1S14,  the  mother  in  1818,  but  not  until  they  had 
witnessed,  and,  for  a  series  of  years,  participated  in, 
the  prosperity  of  their  son. 


2  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

The  subject,  of  this  memoir  displayed,  in  early 
boyhood,  endowments  so  superior,  that  his  family 
resolved  to  educate  him  for  the  bar.  He  was  accord 
ingly  placed,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  in  the  office  of 
Francis  Sylvester,  Esq.,  then  and  still  a  much  re 
spected  resident  of  Kinderhook,  and  at  the  time  re 
ferred  to,  a  practitioner  of  the  law.  Prior  to  the 
conclusion  of  his  term  of  study,  he  spent  about 
twelve  months  in  the  office  of  William  P.  Van  Ness, 
then  a  distinguished  lawyer  and  politician  in  the  city 
of  New- York.*  His  residence  in  that  city  afforded 
Mr.  Van  Bi-iren  opportunities  of  instruction  and  im 
provement,  superior  to  any  that  he  had  before  enjoy 
ed,  and  as  he  was  both  eager  in  persuing,  and  apt  in 
acquiring  knowledge,  he  employed  these  advantages 
with  diligence  and  profit. 

In  November,  1S03,  he  was  licensed  as  an  attorney 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  immediately  thereafter 
commenced  professional  business  in  his  native  village, 
in  connexion  with  a  half  brother,  considerably  his 
senior.  At  the  next  term  of  the  county  courts,  he 

*  This  gentleman  having  afterwards  held  the  office  of  District 
Judge  of  the  United  States  for  the  southern  distiictof  New-York, 
is  some  times  confounded  with  William  W.  Van  Ness,  for  many 
years  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State — a  mistake 
•which  happens  the  more  readily,  from  their  being  both  natives  of 
Columbia  county,  and  both  greatly  distinguished  by  their  talents 
and  their  connexion  with  political  affairs,  though  they  belonged, 
the  former  to  the  republican,  and  the  latter  to  the  federal  party. 


MARTIN  VAN  NUREN.  3 

was  admitted  as  attorney  and  councellor,  and  thus  en 
rolled  in  the  Columbia  bar,  then  numbering  among 
its  members  several  of  the  first  men  in  the  state;  but 
the  field  was  not  fairly  spread  before  him  until  his 
admission  as  councellor  in  the  Supreme  Court,  which 
took  place  in  February,  1807. 

He  had  always  aspired  to  distinction  at  the  bar;  but 
though  he  had  within  him  not  only  the  desire,  but 
the  elements  of  success,  he  was  obliged  to  force  his 
way  through  an  opposition  at  once  powerful  and  pe 
culiar.  The  political  dissensions  which  then  agita 
ted  the  Union,  were  carried,  in  Columbia  county,  to 
the  greatest  extremities.  The  title  to  a  large  portion 
of  the  soil  was  vested  in  a  few  ancient  families,  the 
founders  of  which  had  been  endowed,  during  the 
colonial  government,  with  a  species  of  baronial  pre 
rogative.  The  members  of  these  families  were  gen 
erally  federalists,  and  as  they  carried  with  them  most 
of  the  wealthy  freeholders,  and  the  great  mass  of 
the  merchants  and  professional  men,  they  were  ena 
bled  to  maintain,  for  many  years,  an  uninterrupted 
ascendency  in  the  county.  Their  reign  was  not  that 
of  toleration  or  liberality;  on  the  contrary,  the  fed 
eralists  of  Columbia,  partly  perhaps  from  the  spirited 
and  inflexible  character  of  their  opponents,  were 
among  the  most  decided  and  thorough  going  parti- 
zans  in  the  state.  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  an  object, 
with  them,  of  peculiar  hostility.  He  was  a  plebeian 


4  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

and  a  democrat;  he  was  destitute  of  fortune  and  in 
need  of  patronage;  and  yet  he  would  neither  wor 
ship  at  the  shrine  of  wealth,  nor  court  the  favor  of 
the  powerful — worse  than  all — he  possessed  talents, 
and  was  not  afraid  to  exert  them,  in  the  face,  and  to 
the  prejudice,  of  his  political  enemies.  It  was  there 
fore  thought  to  be  a  matter  of  interest  if  not  of  duty, 
to  keep  him  in  the  shade;  and  nothing  was  omitted 
that  seemed  likely  to  produce  such  a  result. 

Undismayed  by  persecution,  unruffled  by  the  petty 
arts  of  loquacity  and  slander,  and  over  leaping  the  ob 
stacles  by  which  his  progress  was  obstructed,  Mr.  Van 
ISuren  pressed  forward  in  the  race  before  him.  t{  He 
that  seeketh  to  be  eminent  amongst  able  men,"  says 
Lord  Bacon  "  hath  a  hard  task."  That  task,  and  more 
than  that  Mr.  Van  Buren  undertook,  for  he  strove  not 
only  for  eminence  but  mastery.  There  was  a  noble 
daring  in  the  very  attempt  to  cope  with  these  formida 
ble  adversaries,  which  would  almost  have  compensa 
ted  for  the  want  of  success;  but  by  unremitted  atten 
tion  to  business,  by  diligent  preparation,  and  by  the  ut 
most  exertion  of  his  powers,  such  an  issue  was  pre 
vented.  His  faculties,  naturally  acute,  were  not  only 
sharpened  by  these  conflicts,  but  invigorated  and 
rapidly  enlarged;  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  was 
enabled  to  contend  on  high  and  equal  ground,  with 
the  ablest  of  the  group.  This,  after  the  promotion  of 
Judge  W.  W.  Van  Ness,  was  Elisha  Williams,  the 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  5 

most  celebrated  jury  lawyer  in  the  state,  and  proba 
bly  in  the  Union,  then  in  the  prime  of  manhood,  and 
nearly  at  the  zenith  of  his  fame. 

In  1809,  Mr.  Van  Buren  removed  to  the  city  of 
Hudson,  which  was  also  the  residence  of  Mr.  Wil 
liams  ;  and  from  that  time  they  divided,  and  for  many 
years  continued  tc  divide,  the  professional  business 
of  the  county.  They  stood  also  at  the  head  of  the 
political  parties  to  which  they  were  respectively  at 
tached. 

The  writer  has  often  witnessed,  in  other  places, 
displays  of  great  forensic  talent  ;  but  he  has  never 
seen  causes  tried  with  any  thing  like  the  zeal,  the 
skill,  or  the  effect,  which  were  always  exhibited  at  a 
Columbia  circuit,  during  the  period  referred  to.  A 
trial  there  was  an  intellectual  combat  of  the  highest 
order  ;  the  antagonists  were  stimulated,  not  only  by 
professional  duty  and  the  love  of  fame,  but  by  a  ri 
valry  political  and  personal,  which  never  suffered  in 
termission  or  decline.  This  rivalry  to  which  we 
have  alluded,  continued  for  more  than  ten  years  ;  and 
if  time  and  space  permitted,  it  would  be  interesting, 
at  least  to  the  professional  reader,  to  develope  more 
fully  than  we  can  now  do,  the  characters  of  the 
parties  and  the  history  of  their  conflicts. 

In  the  mean  time,  Mr.   Van  Buren  had  followed 
his  distinguished  rival  to  the  higher  courts,  and  to 
he  tribunal  of  the  last  resort.     He  there  encountered 
1* 


6  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

the  first  talents  in  the  state,  and  with  such  success, 
that  on  the  republicans  regaining  their  ascendency,  he 
was  appointed,  in  February,  1815,  Attorney-Gener 
al  of  the  state,  in  the  room  of  Abraham  Van  Vechten, 
then  equally  eminent  for  political  sagacity  and  pro 
fessional  reputation,  but  now  reverenced  and  loved 
as  the  father  of  the  New  York  bar.  The  duties  of 
this  office,  and  the  extension  of  his  practice,  induced 
Mr.  Van  Buren,  in  the  following  year,  to  change 
his  residence  from  Hudson  to  Albany.  From  this 
time  until  his  retirement,  he  was  deservedly  ranked 
with  those  distinguished  civilians,  to  whom,  in  con 
nexion  with  her  judiciary,  the  state  owes  so  large  a 
portion  of  her  renown.  Amongst  such  competitors, 
it  was  impossible  to  acquire,  still  more  to  maintain,  a 
factitious  reputation.  Mr.  Van  Buren's  was  based 
on  materials  the  most  durable.  Gifted  with  a  large 
share  of  good  sense,  with  a  quickness  of  apprehen 
sion  almost  intuitive,  with  a  nice  discrimination,  and 
with  great  accuracy  of  judgment,  and  illustrating 
these  qualities  by  powers  of  reasoning  and  oratory 
rarely  surpassed,  he  was  peculiarly  qualified  for  the 
discussion  of  those  varied  and  complicated  questions 
of  law  and  of  fact,  which  are  so  often  presented  for 
decision  in  our  higher  tribunals.  It  was  accordingly 
in.  the  management  of  important  cases  in  the  supe 
rior  courts,  that  his  most  successful  efforts  as  an  ad 
vocate  were  made.  His  talents  and  reputation  soon 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  7 

secured  to  him  an  extensive  and  lucrative  business, 
which  would  doubtless  have  increased  to  the  highest 
amount  known  to  the  American  bar,  if  his  labors  in 
his  profession  had  not  been  frequently  interrupted, 
and  at  length  finally  suspended,  by  his  attention  to 
political  concerns. 

Whether  before  a  jury,  or  bar,  he  particularly 
excelled  in  the  opening  of  this  subject.  The  facts 
out  of  which  arose  the  questions  for  discussion,  the 
nature  of  those  questions,  and  the  mode  in  which  he 
intended  to  treat  them,  were  always  stated  with  great 
clearness  and  address.  In  the  exposition  of  his  ar 
gument,  he  was  usually  copious  and  diffusive,  pre 
senting  his  case  in  all  its  lights,  and  bringing  to  bear 
upon  it  every  consideration  which  could  tend  to  elu 
cidate  its  merits  or  to  cover  its  defects.  His  style 
and  manner  were  judiciously  adapted  to  the  character 
of  his  subject,  and  of  his  hearers  ;  sometimes  direct 
and  argumentative,  and  at  others  discursive  and  im 
passioned  ;  but  even  in  the  management  of  the  most 
abstruse  legal  topics,  he  was  able  by  the  perspicuity 
of  his  statements,  the  aptness  of  his  illustrations,  the 
vivacity  and  force  of  his  tone  and  gesture,  and  the 
felicity  of  his  whole  manner,  to  excite  and  to  retain 
the  undivided  attention  of  all  classes  of  his  auditors. 

No  one  was  better  qualified  to  speak  with  ability 
and  effect,  upon  little,  or  without  any  preparation  ; 
but  no  one  could  be  more  careful  or  laborious  in  his 


8  BIOGRAPHY  OP 

preparatory  studies.  We  mention  this  for  the  pur 
pose  of  reminding  the  junior  members  of  the  bar, 
that  if  they  would  emulate  and  equal  the  successful 
career  we  have  delineated,  they  must  rely  not  on 
genius  alone,  nor  on  general  knowledge  or  a  diversi 
fied  experience,  but  on  the  surer  aids  to  be  derived 
from  a  perfect  acquaintance  with  their  subject,  and  a 
careful  premeditation  of  what  they  are  to  say. 

The  public  life  and  services  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  to 
which  we  shall  now  direct  the  attention  of  our  read 
ers,  demand  a  fuller  notice  than  that  bestowed  on  his 
professional  career.  It  must,  however,  necessarily 
be  brief;  for  to  bring  them  out,  in  their  just  propor 
tions,  would  require  a  volume,  and  would  lead  to  dis 
cussions  foreign  to  this  place.  His  first  connexion 
with  political  affairs  was  in  the  great  contest  wh'.ch 
preceded  the  civil  revolution  of  1801.  His  father, 
a  whig  in  the  revolution,  and  an  anti-federalist  of 
1788,  was  among  the  earliest  supporters  of  Mr.  Jef 
ferson.  The  son,  then  a  law  student  at  Kinderhook, 
espoused  with  great  warmth  the  same  principles  ;  but 
his  course  was  emphatically  his  own.  It  was  the  re 
sult  of  a  decided  conviction,  that  the  conduct  and  doc 
trines  of  the  men  in  power,  were  not  only  repugnant 
to  the  spirit  of  the  constitution,  but  subversive  of  the 
rights  of  the  people,  and  calculated  to  lead  to  an  aris 
tocratic  government.  The  strength  and  integrity  of 
these  convictions  were  severely  tested.  The  gentle- 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  9 

man  in  whose  office  he  was  a  student  was  a  high  toned 
federalist;  so  was  a  near  and  much  loved  relative,  his 
earliest  patron.  A  majority  of  the  inhabitants,  includ 
ing  nearly  all  the  wealthy  families,  and  most  if  not  all 
his  youthful  associates,  belonged  to  the  same  party, 
and  that  party  then  had  the  ascendency,  not  only  in  his 
own  town,  but  in  the  county,  the  state,  and  the  Union. 
Aware  of  his  superior  endowments,  and  anxious  to 
save  him  from  what  was  deemed  by  many  of  his 
friends  a  fatal,  if  not  a  criminal  heresy,  great  ex 
ertions  were  made  to  attach  him  to  the  dominant 
party.  Every  motive  which  could  operate  on  the 
mind  of  an  ardent  and  ambitious  young  man,  was  • 
held  out  to  him  but  without  success.  He  persisted 
in  maintaining  the  principles  he  had  espoused,  and 
he  spared  no  pains  to  inculcate  them  upon  others,  es 
pecially  by  animated  addresses  at  the  meetings  of  the 
people.  His  devotion,  thus  early,  to  the  popular 
cause,  though  it  exposed  him  to  the  implacable  hos 
tility  of  the  federalists,  secured  for  him  the  confi 
dence  and  affections  of  the  democracy  of  the  town, 
and  soon  made  him  so  conspicuous  in  his  county, 
that  in  the  latter  part  of  1800  or  beginning  of  1801, 
when  only  in  his  eighteenth  or  nineteenth  year,  he 
was  one  of  her  representatives  in  a  republican  con 
vention  composed  of  delegates  from  the  counties  of 
Rensselaer  and  Columbia,  and  held  for  the  purpose  of 
nominating  a  candidate  for  the  house  of  representa- 


10  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

lives.  On  that  occasion  he  assisted  the  veteran  po 
liticians,  with  whom  he  was  associated,  in  preparing 
an  address  to  the  electors.  During  the  residue  of 
his  minority  he  was  in  the  habit  of  representing  the 
republicans  of  his  town  in  the  county  conventions, 
and  of  taking  as  active  and  efficient  a  part  in  the  po 
litical  contests  of  the  day,  as  any  of  his  seniors. 

His  first  appearance  as  an  elector,  was  in  the 
spring  of  1804,  when,  in  common  with  the  great  mass 
of  the  party  in  which  he  had  been  bred,  he  supported 
Morgan  Lewis  for  governor  of  New  York  in  opposi 
tion  to  Aaron  Burr.  Here  again  his  integrity  and 
independence  were  strikingly  exemplified.  Mr. 
Van  Ness,  with  whom  he  had  recently  been  a  stu 
dent,  was  the  intimate  friend  of  Col.  Burr;  and  Mr. 
Van  Buren  himself,  whilst  a  resident  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  had  received  many  flattering  attentions 
from  that  gentlemen.  Several  of  the  leading  repub 
licans  of  Columbia  county,  including  some  of  Mr. 
Van  Buren's  earliest  friends,  were  among  the  warm 
est  supporters  of  Col.  Burr.  Yet  Mr.  Van  Buren 
took  a  decided  stand  against  Col.  Burr,  on  the  ground 
that  he  was  the  candidate  of  the  party  opposed  to 
Mr.  Jefferson,  and  to  the  democracy  of  the  state. — 
His  course  on  this  occasion  subjected  him  to  some 
temporary  antipathies;  but  its  wisdom  and  propriety 
were  sanctioned  by  the  judgment  of  the  people,  and 
at  the  present  day,  will  hardly  be  called  in  question. 


MARTIN  VAN  I  UREN.  || 

In  1807  the  democratic  party  was  again  divided 
between  Lewis  and  Tompkins,  and  Mr.  Van  Buren 
again  acting  in  unison  with  the  majority,  was  among 
the  most  decided  supporters  of  the  latter.  In  1808, 
he  was  appointed  Surrogate  of  the  county,  an  office 
which  he  held  until  February,  1813,  when  the  fede 
ral  party  having  acquired  the  ascendency  in  that 
branch  of  the  legislature  which  controlled  the  ap 
pointing  power,  he  was  promptly  removed.  - 

From  the  moment  when,  in  early  youth,  he  es 
poused  the  democratic  principle,  he  never  wavered 
in  his  course.  Mr.  Jefferson's  administration  receiv 
ed  his  uniform  support;  though  in  the  ardor  of 
youthful  patriotism,  he  sometimes  wished  for  a  more 
decided  policy  towards  the  invaders  of  our  neutral 
rights.  During  the  whole  period  of  the  British  en 
croachments,  he  was  among  those  who  labored  to 
awaken,  in  our  councils  and  people,  a  spirit  of  indig 
nation  and  resistance.  The  embargo,  and  other  re- 
trictive  measures  adopted  by  congress,  met  his  de 
cided  approbation;  and  were  frequently  vindicated 
by  him  in  popular  addresses,  and  on  other  occasions. 
In  the  dark  days  which  followed  these  measures,  he 
neither  apostatized,  nor  flinched,  nor  doubted.  His 
support  of  the  government  was  not  merely  active, 
but  zealous;  nor  was  his  the  zeal  of  ordinary  men. — 
It  absorbed  his  whole  soul;  it  led  to  untiring  exer 
tion;  it  was  exhibited  on  all  occasions,  and  under 


J2  BIOGKAPHY  OF 

all  circumstances.  Neither  the  contumely  of  inflated 
wealth,  nor  the  opposition  of  invidious  talent,  nor 
the  weekly  revilings  of  a  licentious  press,  nor  a  suc 
cession  of  defeats  in  his  own  county,  could  induce 
him  to  conceal  or  to  modify  his  political  sentiments, 
or  to  temporize  in  his  policy  or  conduct. 

The  influence  of  such  principles,  accompanied  by 
talents  like  those  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  was  not  to  be 
circumscribed  within  the  limits  of  a  single  county. 
It  accordingly  extended  in  the  same  proportion  with 
his  professional  reputation;  and  as  early  as  1811,  we 
find  him  taking  the  lead  in  a  meeting  held  at  the 
seat  of  government,  and  composed  chiefly  of  the  de 
mocratic  members  of  the  legislature.  In  1811,  he 
took  great  interest  in  the  question  of  the  renewal  of 
the  United  States  Bank.  In  connexion  with  the  ve 
nerable  George  Clinton,  and  other  leading  members 
of  the  party  in  his  state,  he  strenuously  opposed  the 
re-chartering  of  that  institution.  After  congress 
had  decided  this  question,  a  powerful  association 
was  formed,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  from  the 
state  legislature  a  charter  for  the  Bank  of  America, 
to  be  established  in  the  city  of  New  York,  with  a 
capital  (enormous  for  a  local  bank)  of  $6,000,000. — 
As  the  democracy  of  the  state,  with  but  few  excep 
tions,  considered  this  application  a  sort  of  substitute 
for  the  renewal  of  the  national  bank,  they  took  strong 
ground  against  it.  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  one  of  its  most 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  13 

prominent  opponents.  The  republicans  of  his  coun 
ty  were  convened  on  the  subject.  He  delivered  to 
them  a  powerful  speech  against  the  proposed  appli 
cation,  which  was  denounced  in  a  series  of  resolu 
tions  prepared  by  him  and  adopted  by  the  meeting, 
as  a  most  dangerous  and  anti-republican  measure. — 
His  sentiments  on  the  main  question,  and  his  belief 
that  improper  means  had  been  resorted  to  by  the 
agents  of  the  bank,  conspired  to  recommend  to  his 
approbation  and  support,  the  prorogation  of  the  legis 
lature  by  Governor  Tompkins,  in  April,  1812;  and 
he  accordingly  sustained  that  energetic  measure  by 
the  active  exertion  of  his  influence  and  talents.  At 
this  juncture  he  was,  for  the  first  time,  put  in  nomi 
nation  for  an  elective  office — that  of  state  senator 
for  the  then  middle  district;.  A  more  violent  strug 
gle  was  hardly  ever  known  in  the  state ;  Mr.  Van 
Buren  succeeded,  but  by  a  majority  of  less  than  two 
hundred  out  of  twenty  thousand  votes. 

He  took  his  seat  in  the  senate  in  November,  1812, 
at  the  meeting  held  for  the  choice  of  presidential 
electors.  The  republican  members  of  the  legisla 
ture  having,  in  the  preceding  summer,  nominated 
De  Witt  Clinton  for  president,  in  opposition  to  Mr. 
Madison,  then  a  candidate  for  re-election,  and  that 
nomination  having  been  tendered  to,  and  accepted 
by  Mr.  Clinton,  Mr.  Van  Buren  thought  it  due  to 
consistency  and  good  faith,  to  support  electors  friend- 


14  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

ly  to  that  gentleman.  He  was  also  prompted  to  this 
course  by  an  impression,  that  the  character  and  mea 
sures  of  the  existing  administration  were  not  suffi 
ciently  decisive  and  energetic ;  and  by  a  sincere  and 
confident  belief  that  Mr.  Clinton,  though  supported 
by  many  opponents  of  the  war,  would  yet,  if  elected, 
prosecute  that  contest  with  more  vigour  and  success 
than  his  amiable  and  enlightened  competitor.  Be 
sides — Mr.  Van  Buren  had  been  bred  in  the  political 
sentiments  of  George  Clinton,  and  on  the  death  of  that 
illustrious  patriot,  had  naturally  transferred  much  of 
his  respect  for  the  name,  principles  and  character  of 
the  uncle,  to  his  distinguished  nephew,  who,  up  to 
that  period  had  been  generally  regarded  as  a  pillar  of 
the  democratic  party.  In  these  views  a  majority  of 
the  republicans  in  each  branch  of  the  legislature  con 
curred;  and  Mr.  Clinton  accordingly  received  the 
vote  of  New  York.  Mr.  Van  Buren,  however, 
uniformly  declared  that  he  would  abide  by  the  de 
cision  of  the  majority;  and  that  he  would  support  to 
the  end,  every  measure  of  the  government,  by  whom 
soever  it  might  be  administered,  which  was  calcula 
ted  to  bring  the  war — a  measure  which  he  had  advo 
cated  in  advance,  and  constantly  defended — to  a  suc 
cessful  result.  In  conformity  with  these  principles, 
he  took  a  leading  part  in  the  winter  of  1813,  in  the 
nomination  of  Gov.  Tompkins,  whose  patriotism 
had  identified  him  with  the  history  of  the  country. 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  15 

and  whose  re-election  seemed  essential  to  the  prose 
cution  of  the  war  if  not  to  the  existence  of  the  gov 
ernment.  On  this  occasion  he  wrote  the  address  to 
the  electors  of  the  state,  issued  by  the  republican 
members  of  the  legislature — an  elaborate  and  elo 
quent  production,  in  which  the  duty  of  sustaining  the 
administration  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  was 
enforced  by  every  motive  that  could  reach  the  hearts, 
or  call  out  the  energies  of  the  people.  The  extracts 
from  this  address  which  have  recently  been  laid  be 
fore  the  public,  will  have  enabled  them  to  test  the 
justice  of  this  remark  It  was  widely  circulated,  and 
produced  the  desired  effect. 

In  the  election  of  April,  1813,  Mr.  Clinton,  and 
many  of  his  friends,  supported  the  candidate  of  the 
opposition;  and  from  this  point  a  separation  ensued 
between  that  distinguished  statesman  and  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  which,  as  to  all  political  matters,  continued 
ever  after. 

The  sessions  of  IS  13  and  14,  were  peculiarly  try 
ing.  The  federalists  then  had  the  control  in  the 
assembly,  and  were  violent  and  uniform  in  their  op 
position  to  the  war  and  to  its  supporters.  A  majo 
rity  of  the  senators,  with  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  his 
able  coadjutors,  Nathan  Sanford  and  Erastus  Root,  at 
their  head,  were  equally  inflexible  in  their  support 
of  the  government.  They  passed  many  bills  of  a 
patriotic  character,  which  were  rejected  by  the  other 


16  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

branch.  This  led  to  several  public  conferences,  in 
which  the  points  in  controversy — involving  not  only 
the  particular  measures  in  dispute,  but  the  justice 
and  expediency  of  the  war,  and  the  conduct  and  me 
rits  of  the  national  administration — were  debated  at 
large,  in  the  presence  of  the  two  houses,  by  commit 
tees  chosen  on  the  part  of  each,  and  with  all  the 
energy  and  ardor  which  the  spirit  of  the  times  was 
calculated  to  inspire.  These  conferences,  from  the 
nature  of  their  subjects,  the  solemnity  with  which 
they  were  conducted,  and  the  crowded  and  excited 
auditories  that  attended  them,  presented  opportuni 
ties  for  the  display  of  popular  eloquence,  almost  ri 
valling  in  dignity  and  interest,  the  assemblies  of 
ancient  Greece.  In  all  of  them  Mr.  Van  Buren  was 
a  principal  speaker  on  the  part  of  the  senate,  and  by 
his  readiness  and  dexterity  in  debate,  his  powerful 
reasoning,  and  his  patriotic  defence  of  the  govern 
ment  and  its  measures,  commanded  great  applause. 
On  one  occasion  in  particular,  he  delivered  a  speech 
of  such  eloquence  and  power,  that  immediately  after 
the  termination  of  the  debate,  a  committee  was  ap 
pointed  by  the  republicans  of  Albany — who,  in 
great  numbers,  had  attended  in  the  galleries — to  pre 
sent  him  the  thanks  of  their  constituents,  and  to  pro 
cure  a  copy  of  the  speech  for  publication.  This  re 
quest,  however,  could  not  be  complied  with,  as  the 
speech  had  been  delivered  without  even  the  usual 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  17 

preparative  of  short  notes;  and  Mr.  Van  Buren, 
who  was  then  in  feeble  health,  had  neither  time  nor 
strength  to  write  it  out. 

In  September,  1814,  the  legislature  was  convoked 
by  the  Executive,  to  deliberate  on  the  alarming  cri* 
sis  then  existing.  The  republicans  had  then  regain* 
ed  their  control  in  both  branches,  and  various  mea 
sures  were  adopted  with  the  express  view  of  aiding 
the  national  administration,  in  the  prosecution  of  the 
war.  Of  these,  in  addition  to  acts  making  appro 
priations  of  money,  the  most  prominet  were  the 
acts  "to  authorise  the  raising  of  troops  for  the  de^ 
fence  of  the  state,"  and  to  "encourage  privateering 
associations."  These  bills  were  each  supported  by 
Mr.  Van  Buren;  but  the  first  and  most  important— 
which  was  known  among  its  friends  as  the  "classifi 
cation,"  arid  among  its  enemies  as  the  "conscrip 
tion"  bill,  and  which  very  much  resembled  the  clas 
sification  bill  subsequently  reported  to  congress  by 
Mr.  Monroe — was  peculiarly  his  measure,  it  having 
been  matured  and  introduced  by  him.  They  were 
assailed  by  the  opposition,  both  in  and  out  of  the 
legislature,  with  unwonted  violence.  In  the  coun 
cil  of  revision,  Chancellor  Kent  delivered  written 
opinions,  denouncing  them  as  inconsistent  with  the 
spirit  of  the  constitution,  and  the  public  good.-^ 
Those  opinions,  though  overruled  by  the  other  mem* 

bers  of  the  council,  were   published  in  the  newspa- 

2* 


18  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

pers  and  extensively  circulated ;  and  from  the  high 
reputation  of  their  learned  and  estimable  author, 
they  were  eminently  calculated  to  excite  doubts  as 
to  the  validity  of  the  laws,  and  to  impair  public  con 
fidence  in  those  who  enacted  them. 

In  this  state  of  things,  Col.  Young,  then  speaker 
of  the  assembly,  and  the  principal  champion  in  that 
house,  of  the  measures  thus  impugned,  undertook 
their  defence,  and  especially  that  of  the  Classification 
law,  in  a  series  of  letters,  written  with  great  ability, 
and  addressed  to  the  chancellor,  under  the  signature 
of  Juris  Consultus.  They  were  answered  by  *flm- 
icus  Curise,  (supposed  to  be  the  chancellor  himself,) 
who  was  replied  to  by  Mr.  Van  Buren,  in  four 
numbers  under  the  signature  of  Jlmicus  Juris  Con 
sultus.  In  the  first  of  these  papers,  he  took  a  gene 
ral  view  of  the  several  topics  connected  with  the 
controversy;  the  others  were  devoted  to  a  minute 
examination  of  the  various  objections  made  by  the 
Chancellor,  and  by  rfmicus  Curix,  for  the  act  en 
couraging  privateering  associations.  This  controve- 
sy,  as  conducted  by  all  the  parties,  was  one  of  the 
ablest  which  grew  out  of  the  last  war.  Mr.  Van 
Buren's  share  of  it,  which  was  distinguished  by  great 
ability  and  research,  soon  became  known  among  his 
political  friends,  and  contributed  in  no  small  degree, 
to  his  appointment  as  Attorney  General,  which  took 
place  in  the  February  following.  He  was  soon  after 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  19 

appointed  by  the  legislature,  a  Regent  of  the  Uni 
versity. 

In  1816,  he  was  re-elected  to  the  Senate,  and  re 
mained  in  that  body  until  1820,  when  his  term  of 
service  expired.  From  the  commencement  to  the 
close  of  his  legislative  career,  he  was  found  among 
the  supporters  of  eveiy  measure  connected  with  the 
great  interests  of  the  state.  He  was  particularly 
distinguished  as  a  leading  and  most  efficient  advocate 
of  those  great  plans  of  public  improvement  which 
have  since  conferred,  not  alone  on  the  state  by  which 
they  have  been  executed,  but  on  the  age  in  which  we 
live,  such  imperishable  honor.  :*  » 

The  next  step  in  Mr.  Van  Buren's  progress,  places 
him  on  higher  ground  than  any  he  has  yet  occupied. 
We  have  seen  him  one  of  the  most  active  and  con 
spicuous  politicians  in  his  native  state ;  we  are  now 
to  regard  him  as  the  acknowledged  rival,  in  influ 
ence  and  renown,  of  the  most  celebrated  of  her  sons 
— De  Witt  Clinton.  In  March,  1S17,  that  gentle 
man  was  nominated  by  the  republican  convention  as 
a  candidate  to  succeed  Gov.  Tompkins,  who  had 
been  chosen  Vice-president  of  the  United  States : — 
Mr.  Van  Buren  was  one  of  the  minority  in  this  con 
vention,  though  in  accordance  with  the  usages  and 
feelings  appropriate  to  such  occasions,  he  acquiesced 
in  the  result.  Mr.  Clinton  was  subsequently  elected, 
almost  without  opposition,  but  whether  with,  or 


20  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

without  cause,  we  stop  not  to  inquire — gave  little 
satisfaction  to  the  democracy  of  the  state.     A  divi 
sion  of  the  party  soon   after  took  place  ;  the  great 
mass,  with  Mr.  Van  Buren  in  their  number,  opposed 
his  re-election,  and  from  this  time  until  the  death  of 
Governor  Clinton,  these  distinguished  citizens   stood 
at  the  head   of  the  great  political  parties  of  New 
York.     Mr.   Van   Buren  at   the  commencement  of 
this  era  was  Attorney  General  of  the  state,  but  the 
council  of  appointment,  at  whose  pleasure  the  office 
was  held,  was  devoted  to  Mr.  Clinton.     This,  how 
ever,  did  not  prevent  him  from  pursuing  with  frank 
ness  and  decision,  the  course  which  his  judgment  had 
prescribed  ;  though   he   was  aware   that  the  loss  of 
office  would   inevitably  follow  ;  and  he  was  accord 
ingly  removed  in  July,  1819.      Opposition   to   Mr. 
Clinton  was  the  only  cause  assigned  for  this  measure, 
which  was  to  Mr.  Van  Buren  one  of  the   most  for 
tunate  events   of    his    public  life.      It   commended 
him  more  than  ever  to  the  confidence  and  affections  of 
the  firm  party  men,  who   remembered   his  uniform 
adherence  to  the  republican  cause,  and  above  all.  his 
vigorous   support  of  the  government,  at  the  most 
gloomy  period  of  the  war.      It  also  largely  contribut 
ed  to   the  peculiar  result  of  the  election   in    1820, 
when  the  opponents  of  Governor  Clinton,  though 
they  failed  in  preventing  his  re-election,  carried  both 
branches   of  the  legislature.     A    restoration  to  the 


MARTIN  VAN  BUHEN.  21 

office  of  Attorney  General  was  tendered  to  Mr.  Van 
Buren  by  his  political  friends,  but  being  declined  by 
him,  he  was  appointed  in  February  1821,  a  senator 
in  the  congress  of  the  United  States. 

In  the  interval  between  that  appointment  and  the 
next  congress,  a  convention  was  held  to  amend  the 
constitution  of  the  state.  Mr.  Van  Buren,  who  had 
warmly  advocated  this  measure,  especially  with  a 
view  to  the  extension  of  the  right  of  suffrage,  was 
unexpectedly  returned  to  it,  though  a  resident  of  Al 
bany,  by  the  republican  electors  of  Otsego,  as  a 
member  from  that  county. 

Many  venerable  and  distinguished  men,  together 
with  most  of  the  active  talent  of  the  state,  were 
found  in  this  convention.  It  is,  therefore,  a  high 
compliment — though  it  be  only  simple  truth — to  say, 
that  in  all  the  deliberations  of  this  enlightened  as 
sembly,  Mr.  Van  Buren,  if  not  first,  was  certainly 
one  of  the  foremost.  His  speeches  on  the  various 
questions  submitted  to  the  convention,  are  published 
in  the  report  of  its  proceedings,  and  are  among  the 
ablest  in  the  volume.  They  are  particularly  worthy 
of  note,  for  the  clear  and  comprehensive  manner  in 
which  they  discuss  the  great  principles  of  govern 
ment,  and  for  their  soundness,  moderation  and  jus 
tice.  But  it  is  not  the  mere  display  of  talent  or 
wisdom,  that  illustrates  this  portion  of  Mr.  Van 
Buren's  history.  His  conduct  in  the  convention  is 


22  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

entitled  to  the  other,  and  we  doubt  not  posterity  will 
deem  it  higher,  praise — the  praise  which  belongs  to 
independence,  magnanimity'and  virtue.  He  entered 
it  under  circumstances  most  flattering  to  his  pride — 
the  acknowledged  leader  of  a  triumphant  majority  ; 
he  was  compelled  before  the  termination  of  the  ses 
sion,  either  to  assent  to  a  course  of  proceeding  in  re 
lation  to  the  judiciary  establishments,  which  he 
deemed  uncalled  for  and  improper,  or  to  separate 
from  some  of  the  oldest  and  most  valued  of  his 
friends.  He  chose,  without  hesitation  or  misgiving, 
the  latter  alternative,  and  was  placed,  as  he  foresaw 
would  be  the  consequence,  in  the  ranks  of  the  mi 
nority.  His  conduct,  on  this  occasion,  was  so  evi 
dently  the  result  of  principle,  that  those  of  his  party 
who  differed  from  him  in  opinion,  honored  him  the 
more  for  his  firmness  and  integrity — the  separation 
it  produced,  was  therefore  confined  to  the  questions 
which  occasioned  it.* 

*  The  following  extract  from  a  speech  of  Mr.  Van  Burcn  upon 
one  of  the  measures  above  referred  to,  will  not  only  illustrate 
this  part  of  his  public  conduct,  but  give  some  idea  of  his  manner 
in  debate. 

"  The  matter  therefore  being  clear,  that  the  only  effect  of  the 
amendment  would  be  to  turn  out  of  office  the  present  incum 
bents,  [the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,]  he  submitted  to  the 
convention  whether  it  would  be  either  just  or  wise  to  do  so. — 
He  submitted  it,  he  said,  particularly  to  that  portion  of  the  con 
vention,  who  would  be  held  responsible  for  its  doings — and  who 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN,  23 

He  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  in  December,  1821.  In  1827,  he  was  re- 
would  in  a  political  point  of  view,  be  the  chief  sufferers  by  a 
failure  of  the  ratification  of  their  proceedings  by  the  people. — 
He  warned  them  to  reflect  seriously  on  this  most  interesting 
matter.  He  directed  their  attention  to  the  never  ending  feuds 
and  bitter  controversies  which  would  inevitably  grow  out  of  a 
loss  of  the  amendments  adopted  by  the  convention.  He  knew 
well,  he  said,  how  apt  men  placed  in  their  situation — heated  by 
discussions,  and  sometimes  pressed  by  indiscreet  friends — were 
to  suffer  their  feelings  to  be  excited,  and  to  lead  them  into  mea 
sures  which  their  sober  judgments  would  condemn.  It  was 
their  duty  to  rise  superior  to  all  such  feelings.  He^  asked  them  to 
reflect  for  a  moment,  and  then  answer  him,  whether,  when 
they  left  home,  they  had  ever  heard  the  least  intimation  from 
their  constituents,  that  instead  of  amending  tl^e  constitution  upon 
general  principles,  they  were  to  descend  to  pulling  down  ob 
noxious  officers  through  the  medium  of  the  convention  ;  and  he 
asked  them  whether  they  were  not  sensible  of  the  great  danger 
of  surprising  the  public  at  this  advanced  stage  of  the  session, 
when  the  greatest  uneasiness  already  prevailed,  by  a  measure  so 
unexpected.  There  was,  he  said,  no  necessity  for,  or  propriety 
in,  this  measure.  They  had  already  thrown  wide  open  the 
doors  of  approach  to  unworthy  incumbents.  They  had  altered 
the  impeaching  power,  from  two-thirds  to  a  bare  majority. — 
They  had  provided  also  that  the  chancellor  and  judges  should 
be  removable  by  the  vote  of  two-thirds  of  one  branch,  and  a  bare 
majority  of  the  other.  The  judicial  officer  who  could  not  be 
reached  in  either  of  those  ways,  ought  not  to  be  touched. — 
There  were  therefore  no  public  reasons  for  the  measure,  and  if 
not,  then  why  are  we  to  adopt  it  ?  Certainly  not  from  personal 
feelings.  If  personal  feelings  could  or  ought  to  influence  us 
against  the  individual  who  would  probably  be  most  affected  by 


24  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

elected  to  the  same  station.  To  describe  the  share 
taken  by  him  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Senate, 
would  be  to  copy  the  journals  of  that  body  for  the 
seven  years  during  which  he  was  a  member.  Before 
the  end  of  the  first  session,  he  had  established,  in  an 
assembly  containing  such  men  as  Rufus  King  and 
William  Pinckney,  a  reputation  of  the  highest  grade, 
which  was  successfully  maintained  in  after  years. 

It  has  often  been  demonstrated,  that  the  sarcastic 
remark   of  Mr,    Burke,    "that  lawyers  are    not  at 

the  adoption  of  this  amendment,  [Judge  W.  W.  Van  Ness]  Mr. 
Van  Buren  supposed  that  he  above  all  others,  would  be  excused 
for  indulging  them.  He  could  with  truth  say,  that  he  had 
through  his  whole  life  been  assailed  from  that  quarter,  with 
hostility,  political,  professional  and  personal — hostility  which  had 
been  the  most  keen,  active  and  unyielding.  But  sir,  said  he,  am 
1  on  that  account,  to  avail  myself  of  my  situation  as  a  representa 
tive  of  the  people,  sent  here  to  make  a  constitution  for  them  and 
their  posterity,  and  to  indulge  my  individual  resentments  in  the 
prostration  of  my  private  and  political  adversary  !  He  hoped  it 
was  unnecessary  for  him  to  say,  that  he  should  forever  despise 
himself  if  he  could  be  capable  of  such  conduct.  He  also  hoped 
that  that  sentiment  was  not  confined  to  himself  alone,  and  that 
the  convention  would  not  ruin  its  character  and  credit,  by  pro 
ceeding  to  such  extremities." — [Carter  and  Stone's  Debates  of  the 
Convention,  p.  535.] 

The  conduct  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  on  this  occasion,  and  on  the 
nomination  of  Mr.  Clay  as  Secretary  of  State,  furnishes  a  conclu 
sive  refutation  to  the  charge  of  "proscription"  recently  made  by 
the  latter,  in  the  United  States  Senate,  and  is  strikingly  con- 
trusted  with  his  course  on  the  occasion  referred  to. 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  25 

home  in  legislative  assemblies,"  has  no  application  to 
the  American  bar.  Of  this,  Mr.  Van  Buren  fur 
nishes  a  new  and  signal  proof.  In  the  Senate  of 
New-York,  he  showed  himself  an  able  and  sagacious 
legislator;  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  his 
sphere  of  action  was  not  only  greatly  extended,  but 
the  subjects  of  deliberation  proportionably  difficult 
and  complicated;  yet  here,  also,  he  displayed  a  reach 
and  comprehension  of  intellect,  and  a  degree  of 
practical  wisdom  and  enlightened  forecast  which  en 
title  him  to  the  appellation  and  the  honors  of  a  states 
man.  As  a  ready  and  successful  debater,  he  had  no 
superior.  Several  of  his  speeches,  particularly  those 
in  favor  of  the  bill  abolishing  imprisonment  for  debt, 
and  in  support  of  the  law  making  provision  for  the 
officers  and  soldiers  of  the  revolution,  have  been 
ranked  among  the  finest  specimens  of  eloquence  ever 
heard  in  the  Senate.  Those  on  the  Panama  mis 
sion,  on  the  organization  of  the  judiciary,  and  on  the 
right  of  the  Vice-President  to  control  the  freedom 
of  debate,  were  conspicuous  for  luminous  discus 
sion,  and  for  sound  views  of  constitutional  policy. — 
Reports  of  some  of  them  have  been  published,  but 
"though  the  massive  trunk  of  sentiment  remains/ 
the  "  blossoms  of  elocution/'  in  each  case,  and  the 
fruits  of  genius  in  most  of  them,  "have  dropped 
away."  *  This  must  be  said  of  every  attempt  to  per- 

*  Johnson. 
3 


26  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

petuate  his  speeches,  whether  at  the  bar  or  in  the 
Senate.  His^  utterance  is  so  rapid,  that  no  short 
hand  writer  can  follow  him  with  accuracy;  and  he 
has  rarely  ever  submitted  to  the  drudgery  of  writing 
out  a  speech.  Nor,  indeed,  is  he  capable,  by  any 
after  labor,  of  doing  justice  to  his  own  efforts;  for 
his  brilliant  passages  are  so  entirely  extemporaneous, 
that  they  can  neither  be  repeated  by  others  nor  re 
called  by  himself. 

The  course  pursued  by  Mr.  Van  Buren  as  a  sena 
tor,  both  in  respect  to  the  foreign  policy  of  the  na 
tion,  and  to  our  domestic  concerns,  was  in  perfect 
harmony  with  the  doctrines  he  had  previously  main 
tained.  One  of  his  first  efforts  was,  to  revive  the  dis 
tinctive  principles  of  the  party  in  which  he  had  been 
bred,  and  from  which,  as  he  supposed,  Mr.  Monroe's 
administration,  especially  during  its  second  term, 
had  considerably  swerved.  Although  the  exertions 
made  by  him  to  effect  this  end,  were  not  very  suc 
cessful,  they  attracted  general  attention,  and  were 
decidedly  approved  by  the  democracy  of  the  union. 

He  also  took  a  leading  part  in  the  presidential  elec 
tion  of  1824,  and  the  canvass  which  preceded  it. 
Believing  the  election  of  Mr.  Crawford  more  likely, 
at  that  period,  to  bring  back  the  government  to  the 
Jeffersonian  policy,  than  that  of  any  of  his  competi 
tors,  he  gave  to  that  gentleman  his  vigorous  support. 
His  perseverance,  under  the  most  adverse  circum- 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  27 

stances,  in  the  support  of  that  upright  and   persecu 
ted   citizen,  is  well  known;  as  is  also  the  overwhel 
ming  defeat,  both  in  his  own  state,  and  in  the  union 
which  terminated  the  contest. 

In  that  catastrophe,  his  enemies, — ignorant  or  for 
getful  of  the  recuperative  power  of  talents  and  in 
tegrity — vainly  imagined,  they  saw  the  downfall,  if 
not  the  end,  of  his  influence  and  success,  but  before 
another  year  elapsed,  he  occupied  a  possition  more 
elevated  than  ever.  The  first  step  toward  that  posi 
tion,  was  the  wise  determination  to  take  no  part  in 
the  decision  by  the  House  of  Representatives — a  re 
solution  adopted  by  the  friends  of  Mr.  Crawford, 
with  the  double  motive  of  retaining  their  usefulness 
after  the  contest  should  be  decided,  and  of  preser 
ving  themselves  from  the  charge  of  coalescing  with 
their  opponents.  After  the  election,  Mr.  Van  Buren 
advised  his  friends  at  home  to  abstain  from  all  acts 
of  hostility  towards  Mr.  Adams;  to  give  him  a  fair 
trial,  and  to  judge  of  his  administration  by  his  acts. 
His  course  in  the  Senate  was  governed  by  the  same 
principles;  and  it  was  not  until  the  great  question  of 
the  Panama  mission  that  he  found  occasion  to  depart 
from  it.  His  opposition  to  that  measure;  the  inte 
resting  considerations  connected  with  it;  and  the 
judgment  which  the  people  have  pronounced  on  the 
conduct  of  those  who  supported  and  those  who  op 
posed  it,  are  well  known.  It  was  after  taking  this 


2g  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

stand,  an  act  which  drew  upon  him  the  marked  hos 
tility  of  Mr.  Adams's  Cabinet,  and  the  open  denuncia 
tions  of  their  supporters,  that  he  was  re-elected  to  the 
Senate,  by  the  legislature  of  New-York.  His  con 
nexion  with  the  great  contest  of  1828,  and  his  effici 
ent  instrumentality  in  bringing  about  that  triumph 
ant  result,  which,  to  use  his  own  language,  "while 
it  infused  fresh  vigor  into  our  political  system,  and 
added  new  beauties  to  the  republican  character,  once 
more  refuted  the  odious  imputation  that  Republics 
are  ungrateful,"  need  not  be  rehearsed. 

With  the  electors  of  president  and  vice-president 
for  the  state  of  New- York,  a  governor  of  the  state 
was  also  to  be  chosen,  to  succeed  the  distinguished 
and  lamented  Clinton.  Yielding  to  the  pressing  de 
mand  of  the  republicans  of  New-York,  Mr.  Van 
Buren  consented  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  of 
fice,  and  was  subsequently  elected. 

This  event  made  it  necessary  that  he  should  retire 
from  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  he  accord 
ingly  resigned  his  seat  in  that  body  in  January,  1829. 

Before  we  follow  him  to  the  chief  magistracy  of 
his  native  state,  it  will  be  proper  to  notice  two  or 
three  points  connected  with  his  services  in  the  Sen 
ate,  to  which  no  reference  has  yet  been  made.  Du 
ring  the  whole  period  of  those  services,  the  nation 
•was  agitated  by  discussions  on  bills  for  regulating  the 
?tariff,  and  for  constructing  internal  improvements. 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  29 

As  t  great  majority  of  the  people  of  New-York, 
were  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  protective  system, 
and  of  the  bills  imposing  additional  duties  passed  in 
1824  and  1S28,  Mr  Van  Buren's  votes  on  these  bills 
were  governed  by  their  wishes  and  instructions — 
it  being  with  him  a  cardinal  maxim,  that  the  repre 
sentative  is  bound  to  express  the  sentiments  of  his 
constituents,  whenever  those  sentiments  can  be  clearly 
ascertained.  But  whilst  he  was  always  ready  to  aid 
in  the  protection  of  the  manufacturing  interests,  by 
advocating  the  adoption  of  all  necessary  and  reason 
able  measures,  he  was  not  prepared  to  build  up  that 
interest  at  the  expense  of  others  equally  important  to 
the  well-being  of  the  nation.  Deeply  sensible  that 
the  union  of  the  states  could  only  be  kept  up,  by  the 
constant  exercise  of  that  spirit  of  concession  and  com 
promise  in  which  it  was  formed,  he  earnestly  incul 
cated  upon  the  representatives  of  the  manufacturing 
states,  the  importance  of  limiting  their  demands  to 
the  lowest  practicable  point;  the  mischiefs  to  be  ap 
prehended,  both  in  a  pecuniary  and  national  point 
of  view,  from  extravagant  and  oppressive  duties;  and 
the  benefits  to  be  derived  from  a  reduction  of  the 
revenue  to  an  amount  barely  sufficient  to  pay  the  na 
tional  debt,  and  carry  on  an  economical  government. 
The  wise  and  liberal  sentiments  entertained  by  him 
in  this  respect,  were  made,  not  unfrequently,  the  to 
pics  of  accusation  in  his  own  state.  In  1827,  these 


30  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

accusations  increased  to  such  an  extent,  that  he  avail 
ed  himself  of  the  opportunity  affored  him  by  a  pub 
lic  meeting  held  in  Albany  on  the  subject  of  the  then 
proposed  Harrisburgh  convention,  to  lay  before  that 
meeting,  in  a  speech  of  considerable  length,  his  gen 
eral  views  on  the  whole  subject,  as  well  as  an  expla 
nation  of  the  course  he  persued,  whilst  a  member  of 
the  senate,  on  the  particular  bills  which  had  come 
before  that  body.  This  speech,  which  was  after 
wards  published,  had  not  only  the  effect  of  satisfy 
ing  the  people  of  New-York  in  regard  to  the  course 
of  the  senator  who  made  it,  but  it  had  also  a  ten 
dency  to  moderate  the  high  tariff  sentiments  of  some 
of  his  constituents.  The  recent  history  of  the  na 
tion,  and  above  all  the  bill  just  passed  for  the  re 
duction  of  the  duties,  have  fully  vindicated  the  wis 
dom,  foresight  and  patriotism  of  Mr.  Van  Buren's 
course  in  relation  to  this  most  important  and  diiiicult 
subject. 

In  regard  to  internal  improvements,  Mr.  Van  Bu- 
ren,  had  always  but  one  opinion,  viz:  that  it  was 
not  intended  by  the  framers  of  the  constitution  to 
confer  on  Congress  the  power  of  constructing  (hem: 
and  that  the  power,  if  exercised  at  all,  ought  to  be 
sacredly  confined  to  objects  of  a  strictly  national  cha 
racter.  With  perhaps  a  single  exception,  his  votes 
in  the  Senate,  were  in  strict  accordance  with  these 
views.  The  case  alluded  to,  as  constituting  a  possi- 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  31 

We  exception,  is   thus   stated    by   himself.      "Mr. 
Van  Buren  is  by  no  means  certain,  that  in  this  re 
spect  he  himself  has  been  altogether  without  fault. — 
At  the  very  first  session  after  he  came  into  the  Senate, 
the  knowledge  of  the  perpetual  drain  that  the  Cum 
berland  road  was  destined  to  prove  upon  the  public 
treasury,  unless  some  means  were  taken  to  prevent  it, 
and  a  sincere  desire  to  go  at  all  times,  as  far  as  he 
could  consistently  whh  the  constitution,  to  aid  in  the 
improvement,    and   promote   the   prosperity,  of  the 
western  country,  had  induced  him,  without  full  exa 
mination,  to  vote  for  a  provision,  authorizing  the  col 
lection  of  toll  on  this  road.     The  affair  of  the  Cum 
berland    road,    in    respect    to    its    reference    to    the 
constitutional  powers  of  this  government,  is  a  matter 
entirely  sui  generis.      It  was  authorized  during  the 
administration  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  grew  out  of  the  dis 
position   of  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  and 
had  the  consent  of  the  states  through  which  it  passed. 
He  has   never  heard  an  explanation  of  the  subject, 
(although  it  has  been  a  matter  of  constant  reference,) 
that  has  been  satisfactory  to  his  mind.      All  he  can 
say,  is  that  if  the  question  were  again  presented  to 
him  he  would  vote  against  it;  and  that  his  regret 
for  having  done  otherwise,  would  be  greater,  had  not 
Mr.  Monroe,  much  to  his  credit,  put  his  veto  upon 
the  bill;  and  were  it  not  the  only  vote,  in  the  course 
of  a  seven  years'  service,  which  the  most  fastidious 


32  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

critic  can  torture  into  an  inconsistency  with  the 
principles  which  Mr.  V.  13.  professed  to  maintain, 
and  in  the  justice  of  which,  he  is  every  day  more 
and  more  confirmed."* 

Mr.  Van  Buren  entered  upon  the  office  of  Gover 
nor  of  New-York,  on  the  first  of  January,  1829,  and 
administered  the  government  until  the  12th  of  March 
following,  when  he  resigned  in  consequence  of  his 
appointment  as  Secretary  of  Slate  of  the  United 
States.  Of  the  ability  and  uprightness  with  which 
he  discharged  the  duties  of  the  chief  magistracy, 
there  is  high  and  honorable  proof.  Resolutions  ex 
pressive  of  the  "highest  respect  for  his  virtues  and 
talents,"  and  tendering  to  him  the  congratulations  of 
the  representatives  of  the  people,  with  "their  earnest 
wish  that  he  might  enjoy  a  full  measure  of  happi 
ness  and  prosperity  in  the  new  sphere  of  public  duty 
to  which  he  was  about  to  be  removed,"  were  unani 
mously  passed  by  both  branches  of  the  state  legislature, 
though  a  considerable  portion  of  each  house  belonged 
to  the  party  opposed  to  his  election.  The  like  sen 
timents  were  expressed  in  terms  still  more  flattering 
and  affectionate,  by  the  republican  members,  who 
transmitted  him  a  communication  on  the  eve  of  his 
departure  for  Washington,  in  which,  after  express 
ing  t(  their  attachment  to  his  person,  their  respect  for 

•  Note  C   to  Mr.  Van  Buren's  speech,  in  relation  to  the   right 
tf  the  Vice-President  to  call  to  order,  &c.  delivered  in  1828. 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  33 

vhis  character,  and  their  regret  at  the  separation  that 
was  about  to  take  pleace,"  they  tendered  him  their 
acknowledgements,  "for  the  numerous  and  impor 
tant  services  which  he  had  rendered  to  the  state,  par 
ticularly  in  sustaining  those  political  principles  which 
they  believed  to  be  most  intimately  blended  with  its 
highest  and  dearest  interests."  These  proceedings, 
in  connexion  with  those  had  since  his  rejection  by 
the  Senate,  may  be  taken  as  an  index  of  the  estimation 
in  which  he  is  held  by  the  people  of  his  native  state, 
and  of  the  character  of  their  feelings  towards  him. 

Immediately  after  his  resignation  as  Governor  of 
New-York,  he  repaired  to  the  post  assigned  him  by 
the  President. 

The  qualities  of  his  mind,  temper  and  manners, 
were  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  duties  of  a  cabinet 
minister,  and  more  especially  to  those  of  the  state 
department.  Whilst  he  occupied  this  station,  he 
showed  himself  a  safe  constitutional  adviser,  by  re 
commending  on  all  occasions,  a  strict  and  scrupulous 
adherence  to  the  terms  of  the  constitution — a  liberal 
regard  to  the  interests  of  each  portion  of  the  union— 
a  sincere  deference  to  the  independence  and  sove 
reignty  of  the  states,  wherever  those  attributes  re 
mained  to  them — an  honest,  vigilant  and  frugal  ad 
ministration  at  home — and  a  watchful  and  provident 
attention  to  our  concerns  with  foreign  nations.  The 
;management  of  those  concerns,  so  far  as  it  devolved 


34  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

on  him,  was  precisely  what  it  should  have  been. — 
His  demeanor  towards  the  agents  of  foreign  powers., 
was  on  all  occasions  frank,  conciliatory,,  and  digni 
fied  ;  his  despatches  contained  nothing  rhetorical, 
offensive  or  imprudent ;  the  affairs  to  which  they 
related  were  discussed  in  a  plain  business-like  man 
ner;  our  own  views  and  claims  were  clearly  stated, 
and  when  founded  on  truth  and  justice,  inflexibly 
maintained;  the  pretentions  of  our  opponents  were 
candidly  considered;  and  in  accordance  with  the 
character  and  policy  of  the  President,  every  effort 
was  made  to  conduct  our  diplomatic  arrangements  in 
the  spirit  of  sincerity  and  justice.  The  success 
which  attended  his  labors  as  Secretry  of  State,  is  too 
well  known  to  need  to  be  repeated. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  held  the  office  of  Secretary  of 
State,  until  June,  1831,  when  he  retired  from  that 
important  and  honorable  trust  which  he  had  volunta 
rily  resigned  in  the  preceding  April.  The  reasons 
which  induced  him  to  take  this  step,  were  of  the 
purest  and  most  elevated  character.  He  believed 
that  the  best  interests  of  the  republic  were  identified 
with  the  full ,  and  successful  development  of  the 
principles  which  led  to  the  election  of  Gen.  Jackson; 
he  saw  that  the  confidence  of  the  President,  though 
indispensable  to  his  usefulness  in  the  cabinet,  was 
yet  made  the  ground  of  open  accusation  and  insidious 
attack;  he  was  aware  that  envy  and  ambition  in  their 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  35 

efforts  to  injure  him,  were  likely  to  embarrass,  if  not 
to  thwart  the  measures  of  the  government;  and  he 
knew  that  so  long  as  he  maintained  a  position  so  pro 
minent  and  commanding,  the  patriotic  designs  of  the 
Executive  would  be  counteracted,  not  only  by  the 
regular  opposition,  but  bv  the  more  dangerous  hosti 
lity  of  some  who  pretended  to  be  his  friends.  Under 
these  circumstances,  he  resolved  to  abandon  the  ad 
vantages  of  that  position;  and  by  a  voluntary  sacri 
fice  of  the  influence  and  prospects  which  belonged  to 
it,  to  relieve  the  administration  from  the  difficulties 
created  by  enmity  towards  him.  When  the  mists  of 
prejudice  which  hang  over  the  page  of  recent  history, 
shall  have  been  cleared  away,  this  act  will  stand  out 
in  the  lustre  of  personal  magnanimity  and  public 
virtue. 

The  reluctant  assent  of  Gen.  Jackson  to  the  resier- 

o 

nation  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  was  accompanied  by  a 
warm  testimonial  of  unlimited  confidence  in  his  abili 
ties  and  integrity.  A  further  proof  was  soon  after 
given  of  this  confidence,  in  the  appointment  of  Mr. 
Van  Buren  as  minister  to  Great  Britain.  In  making 
this  appointment,  the  President  was  mainly  influ 
enced  by  the  belief  that  Mr.  Van  Buren  would  be 
more  likely  than  any  one  he  could  select,  to  nego 
tiate  a  satisfactory  adjustment  of  the  delicate  and  dan 
gerous  questions  concerning  blockades,  impressments 
and  the  right  of  search,  which  occasioned  the  late 


3(J  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

War  with  Great  Britain,  and  which  yet  remain  undis 
posed  of.  The  President  justly  thought  the  amica 
ble  settlement  of  these  questions  an  object  of  deep 
interest,  not  only  to  the  two  nations,  but  to  the 
world ;  and  that  it,  therefore,  demanded  the  best 
talents  of  the  country.  He  also  supposed  that  Mr. 
Van  Buren  from  his  intimate  knowledge  of  our  rela 
tions  with  the  several  powers  of  Europe,  would  be 
able  to  render  essential  aid  to  our  ministers  on  that 
continent;  and  that  he  might,  in  various  other  ways, 
promote  the  public  interests,  during  his  residence  at 
London;  Mr.  Van  Buren  felt  the  whole  force  of 
these  considerations,  and  he  was,  moreover,  very 
willing  to  withdraw,  for  the  usual  period  of  a  foreign 
mission,  from  the  turmoil  of  party.  He  therefore 
readily  complied  with  the  wishes  of  the  President, 
by  accepting  the  appointment — though  most  of  his 
political  and  personal  friends  were  exceedingly  averse 
to  it,  on  the  ground  that  his  absence  from  the 
country  would  materially  impair  his  political  pros 
pects  at  home.  This  being  the  principal  motive  of 
their  objections,  he  did  not  think  them  sufficiently 
important  to  deter  him  from  engaging  in  a  service, 
which  promised,  if  successful,  to  be  not  less  useful  to 
his  country  than  honorable  to  himself.  He  landed 
in  England  in  September,  1831,  and  was  soon  after 
received  at  court  with  distinguished  favor.  His  ap 
pointment,  however,  remained  to  be  confirmed  by 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREtf.  37 

the  senate.  It  was  submitted  to  that  body  in  De 
cember  following,  and  after  various  postponements 
was  finally  negatived,  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  vice- 
president,  on  the  26th  of  January,  1832.  In  conse 
quence  of  this  event  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  immediate 
ly  recalled,  and  has  recently  landed  on  his  natal  soil. 
Of  *he  reasons  assigned  for  his  rejection,  it  cannot, 
in  this  place,  be  necesssary  to  speak,  farther  than  to 
remark,  that  if  any  reliance  can  be  placed  on  repeat 
ed  and  spontaneous  expressions  of  the  public  voice — 
and  in  matters  of  this  sort  the  people  never  err — 
then  were  those  reasons  utterly  insufficient.  The 
popular  feeling  excited  by  the  conduct  of  the  Senate, 
has  been  further  exemplified  in  his  recent  nomination 
for  the  Vice-Presidency — an  event,  which,  when  he 
left  the  country,  he  neither  looked  for  nor  desired. 
The  heterogenous  interests  which  were  combined  to 
accomplish  his  defeat  in  the  Senate,  are  again  united 
in  opposing  his  election;  but  as  the  question  now  at 
issue,  is  to  be  decided  by  the  yeomanry  of  the  coun 
try,  we  have  no  fears  as  to  the  result. 

We  have  thus  presented  a  rapid  sketch  of  the  pro 
fessional  and  public  life  of  MARTIN  VAN  BURJN. — 
It  illustrates  in  a  manner  the  most  impressive,  one  of 
the  happiest  principles  of  our  excellent  frame  of  go 
vernment — its  tendency  to  draw  out  and  foster  talent 
and  integrity,  and  to  secure  to  them,  in  spite  of  eve 
ry  thing  by  which  their  progress  may  be  impeded, 


38  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

the  honors  they  deserve.  We  have  seen  that  he 
owed  nothing  to  birth  or  ancestry — nothing  to  pro 
perty  or  patronage.  And  though  like  others  of  our 
public  men,  he  was  greatly  indebted  to  the  press  of 
his  own  party,  for  occasional  vindications  of  his  cha 
racter  and  conduct,  he  was  not.  like  some  of  them, 
helped  along  in  his  career,  by  a  systematic  course  of 
newspaper  panegyric.  On  the  other  hand,  he  en 
countered  from  opposing  prints,  an  unusual  degree  of 
obloquy  and  reproach.  At  an  early  age,  they  select 
ed  him  as  a  subject  of  perpetual  and  virulent 
abuse;  and  for  nearly  twenty  years,  this  abuse  was 
persisted  in,  to  a  degree  rarely  paralleled, "and  never 
surpassed,  in  the  history  of  our  politics.  The  dis 
paragement  of  his  abilities,  and  indeed  the  denial  that 
he  possessed  any  just  claim  to  talents  of  any  sort,  was 
one  of  the  most  common,  and  perhaps  the  most  pro 
voking,  of  these  libels.  The  slander  was  refuted  by 
the  daily  exhibition  of  great  parts,  and  malignity  it 
self  was  obliged  to  admit,  that  he  was  always  found 
adequate  to  the  particular  duty  with  which  he  had 
been  charged;  but  this  acknowledgement  was  uni 
formly  followed  by  the  prediction,  that  he  had  reach 
ed  the  "  extremest  verge"  which  destiny  had  as 
signed  him;  and  that  his  next  step  would  plunge 
him  beyond  his  depth,  not  in  a  "sea  of  glory,"  but 
in  a  "rude  stream,"  that  should  sweep  away  the 
past,  and  overwhelm  him  for  the  future.  The  story 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  39 

of  his  advancement — at  once  the  most  regular  and 
rapid  with  which  we  are  acquainted — is  the  best 
commentary  on  diatribes  of  this  sort.  We  have 
seen  his  sphere  of  action  constantly  enlarging — from 
his  native  village  to  the  county  capitol,  from  that  to 
the  metropolis  of  the  state,  and  from  the  latter  to  the 
councils  of  the  union — but  we  have  found  him  equal, 
and  more  than  equal,  to  every  emergency,  never 
falling  short  of  his  prior  reputation,  and  never  disap 
pointing  the  hopes  of  his  friends;  on  the  contrary, 
each  successive  step  in  his  career,  whilst  it  has  falsi 
fied  the  predictions  of  his  enemies,  has  furnished 
new  proofs  of  his  capacity,  and  new  claims  to  the  re 
spect  and  confidence  of  his  countrymen. 

In  person,  Mr.  Van  Buren  is  neither  above  nor 
below  the  middle  height;  his  figure  is  erect  and 
graceful — his  frame  slender  and  apparently  delicate, 
but  capable  of  sustaining  severe  and  long  continued 
exertion — the  general  expression  of  his  features,  ani 
mated  and  agreeable — his  eye  quick  and  piercing — 
his  head,  (which  is  now  quite  bald,)  particularly  his 
forehead,  of  unusual  size,  and  admirable  formation. 
The  engraving  by  Hatch,  which  accompanies  the 
memoir  in  the  CABINET,  from  the  fine  portrait  re 
cently  painted  by  Inman  for  the  corporation  of  New 
York,  is  a  spirited  and  accurate  likeness. 

The  private  character  of  Mr.   Van  Buren  may  be 
commended    without   reserve.      Enmity    itself  has 


40  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

rarely  ever  ventured  to  reproach  or  to  suspect  it. — 
In  his  intercourse  with  the  world,  the  justice,  pro 
priety,  and  benevolence  of  his  conduct,  render  him 
a  model  for  imitation;  whilst  the  ease  and  frank 
ness  of  his  manners,  and  his  happy  talent  for  conver 
sation,  make  him  the  ornament  of  the  social  circle. 
Blessed  with  a  disposition  at  once  firm,  amiable,  and 
forbearing;  and  uniting  with  a  just  self  respect,  ha 
bitual  self-control;  he  has  been  able — amid  the  per 
plexities  of  litigation,  the  cares  of  office,  and  the 
contentions  of  party — to  preserve  the  serenity  of  his 
temper,  and  to  blend  with  a  vigilant  attention  to  his 
own  character  and  rights,  a  constant  observance  of 
the  courtesies  of  life  and  a  sedulous  regard  to  the 
feelings  of  others.  No  man  ever  numbered  among 
his  personal  friends,  a  greater  proportion  of  his  poli 
tical  opponents.  Even  in  times  of  the  greatest  ex 
citement,  those  of  them  who  enjoyed  his  acquaint 
ance,  always  accorded  him  their  respect — usually 
their  confidence  and  esteem. 

It  is  obvious  that  with  such  qualities  and  manners, 
he  could  hardly  fail  to  secure  the  affections  of  his 
political  associates.  Such  has  accordingly  been  the 
case  in  every  stage  of  his  progress;  and  it  is  to  this, 
combined  with  his  admirable  knowledge  of  men,  and 
his  practical  good  sense,  that  he  is  indebted  for  his 
success  as  a  political  leader.  To  this  also  must  be 
ascribed  the  charge  of  intrigue  and  artifice,  which 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  41 

has  so  often  been  preferred  against  him.  If  by  this, 
it  be  intended,  that  he  possesses  in  an  eminent  de 
gree  the  talent  of  harmonizing,  concentrating  and 
directing  the  feelings  and  exertions  of  those  with 
whom  he  acts — and  that  he  has  often  exerted  this 
talent  with  sagacity  and  effect — his  friends  must 
plead  guilty  to  the  charge.  It  would  be  as  idle  to 
deny  it  in  respect  to  him,  as  to  Hamilton  or  Jeffer 
son,  to  Chatham  or  to  Fox.  But  if  by  the  charge  be 
intended,  the  pursuit  of  those  objects  which  are 
held  up  by  our  free  institutions,  as  the  incentive, 
and  the  reward  of  honorable  ambition,  by  trick,  du 
plicity,  or  cunning — we  may  indignantly  repel  it, 
as  alike  unsupported  by  evidence  and  unfounded  in 
fact.  No  man  who  was  ever  brought  in  contact  with 
him — who  was  able  to  speak  to  the  point,  from  per 
sonal  knowledge  of  his  conduct — ever  ventured  to 
give  to  such  an  accusation  the  sanction  of  his  name. 
On  the  contrary,  all  such  persons  will  acknowledge 
— they  must  acknowledge,  if  they  speak  the  truth — 
that  his  course  as  a  politician,  though  decided  and 
unyielding,  was  always  open,  liberal  and  honest. — 
This  has  been  admitted  by  several  of  his  opponents, 
under  circumstances  peculiarly  calculated  to  give 
force  and  solemnity  to  their  statements.  A  single 
instance  will  illustrate  this  remark.  The  most  vio 
lent  warfare  in  which  he  was  ever  engaged,  was  that 
with  Governor  Clinton,  and  with  his  leading  sup- 


42  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

porters,  Chief  Justice  Spencer  and  the  late  William 
W.  Van  Ness,  two  of  the  ablest  men  New  York  erer 
produced.  Indeed  with  the  latter  of  these  gentle 
men,  he  had  waged  a  severe  contest  from  his  first 
connexion  with  political  affairs.  The  character  of 
these  contests,  the  consequences  that  resulted  from 
them,  and  their  tendency  to  excite  the  most  impla 
cable  hostility,  are  well  known  to  all  who  are  fami 
liar  with  the  history  of  New  York.  They  may  also 
be  guessed  at  by  others,  when  we  inform  them  that 
in  the  course  of  Ihose  conflicts,  or  some  of  them, 
Governor  Clinton  was  twice  driven  into  retirement 
— Chief  Justice  Spencer  removed  from  office,  and 
for  some  time  kept  from  public  employment — Judge 
Van  Ness  compelled  to  retire  from  the  bench,  and 
Mr.  Van  Buren  twice  removed  from  office,  and  for 
years  proscribed  and  pursued  with  unrelenting  se 
verity.  But  each  of  these  great  men  has  borne  tes 
timony  to  the  liberality,  fairness  and  honor  with 
which  he  had  been  treated  by  Mr.  Van  Buren,  and 
to  the  general  uprightness  of  his  conduct  as  a  man 
and  a  politician.  Judge  Van  Ness  did  it  on  his 
death-bed  ;  Governor  Clinton  almost  in  the  last  mo 
ments  of  his  life  ;  and  as  to  Chief  Justice  Spencer — 
with  characteristic  frankness,  he  often  did  if,  even 
in  the  midst  of  our  most  violent  collisions. 

On  this  point,  the  friends  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  may 
also    triumphantly  appeal  to   the    whole   American 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  43 

people.  Within  the  last  two  years  he  has  been  ar 
raigned  before  them,  on  the  charge  of  having  brought 
about,  by  a  malign  and  interested  agency,  that  diffe 
rence  between  the  highest  officers  of  the  government, 
and  those  dissentions  in  the  cabinet,  which  occupied 
for  a  time,  so  large  a  share  of  the  public  attention. 
These  subjects  have  undergone,  in  the  face  of  this 
nation,  a  scrutiny,  the  most  ample  and  unsparing; 
and  this  too,  for  the  most  part,  during  his  absence 
from  the  country.  And  yet  the  industry  of  his  ene 
mies  have  detected  no  single  fact  on  which  their  ma 
lice  can  repose!  On  the  other  hand,  we  have  the 
testimony  of  a  witness,  who  must  know,  and  who  is 
incapable  of  disguising  or  extenuating  the  truth — we 
have  the  testimony  of  ANDREW  JACKSON — to  the 
falsehood  of  the  charge  in  all  its  parts  and  bearings. 
This  is  sufficient  to  put  to  flight  a  whole  legion  of 
inuendoes  and  suspicions. 

Such  is  the  man  who  is  noxv  before  the  nation  for 
the  second  office  in  their  gift.  We  anticipate,  with 
pleasure,  his  elevation  to  that  honorable  post,  not 
from  any  personal  interest  in  his  success,  or  in  that 
of  the  candidate  with  whom  he  is  associated,  but  be 
cause  we  know  him  to  be  "honest,  capable  and 
faithful  to  the  constitution;" — because  we  believe 
that  the  best  interests  of  the  country  will  be  promo 
ted  by  his  election  ;• — and  above  all,  because  that 
election  will  furnish  a  new  and  most  impressive  il- 


44  BIOGRAPHY. 

lustration  of  the  great  moral  and  political  truth,  that 
integrity,  though  it  may  somestimes  be  beaten  down 
by  unnatural  coalitions,  will  yet  ultimately  receive, 
at  the  hands  of  a  free  and  intelligent  community,  a 
full  and  triumphant  vindication.  The  influence  of 
such  a  vindication,  will  not,  in  the  present  case,  be 
confined  to  our  own  country,  nor  to  the  present 
generation.  It  will  attract  the  notice  of  other  na 
tions;  it  will  go  down  to  remote  posterity.  With 
the  former,  it  will  redeem  us  from  the  reproach  in 
curred  by  the  wrong  intended  to  be  redressed;  with 
the  latter,  it  will  form  a  page  of  authentic  history, 
from  which  envious  and  aspiring  men  may  read  the 
salutary  lesson — one  which  from  the  days  of  Haman 
to  the  present  hour,  they  have  been  slow  to  learn — 
that  when  truth  and  justice  are  violated  to  effect  the 
ruin  of  an  adversary,  the  very  contrivances  adopted 
to  accomplish  this  end,  are  likely  to  become  the 
means  of  his  advancement;  and  that  it  is  therefore 
the  part,  not  only  of  duty,  but  of  interest,  to  treat 
their  opponents  with  justice  and  moderaiion,  and 
"to  do  unto  others  as  they  would  have  others  do 
unto  them." 


APPENDIX. 


Extracts  from  the  address  of  the  Republican  mem 

bers  of  the  legislature,    to  their  constituents, 

March  9,  1813,  written  by  MR.  VAN  BUREN. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS  —  It  is  not  to  the  arbitrary  man 

dates  of  despotic  power,  that  your  submission  is  de 

manded  ;  it  is  not  to  the  seductive  wiles  and  artful 

blandishments  of  the  corrupt  minions  of  aristocracy, 

that  your  attention  is  called  —  but  to  an  expression 

and  discussion  of  the   wishes  and  feelings  of  your 

representatives. 

You  are  invited  to  listen  with  calmness  and  im 
partiality,  to  the  sentiments  and  opinions  of  men 
who  claim  no  right  superior  to  yours,  —  who  claim  no 
authority  to  address  you  save  that  of  custom  ;  who 
would  scorn  to  obtain  the  coincidence  of  your  opinion 
by  force  or  stratagem,  and  who  seek  no  influence 
with  you,  except  that  which  arises  from  conscious 
rectitude,  from  a  community  of  hopes  and  of  fears,  of 
right  and  of  interests. 

In  making  this  appeal,  which  is  sanctioned  by 
usage,  and  the  necessity  of  which  is  rendered  impe 
rious  by  the  situation  of  our  common  country,  we 
feel  it  to  be  our  duty,  as  it  is  our  wish,  to  speak  to 


46  APPENDIX. 

you  in  the  language  which  alone  becomes  freemen 
to  use — the  language  to  which  alone  it  becomes  free 
men  to  listen — the  language  of  truth  and  sincerity  ; 
to  speak  to  you  of  things  as  they  are,  and  as  they 
should  be, — to  speak  to  you  with  unrestrained  free 
dom,  of  your  rights  and  your  duties, — and  if  by  so 
doing  we  shall  be  so  fortunate  as  to  convince  you  of 
the  correctness  of  the  opinions  we  hold  ;  to  commu 
nicate  to  you  the  anxious  solicitude  we  feel  for  our 
country  and  its  rights,  to  turn  your  attention  from 
the  minor  considerations  which  have  hitherto  divid 
ed,  distracted  and  disgraced,  the  American  people, 
and  to  direct  it  exclusively  to  the  contemplation  and 
support  of  your  national  honor  and  national  interests, 
our  first  and  only  object  will  be  effected. 

That  tempest  of  passion  and  of  lawless  violence 
which  has  hitherto  almost  exclusively  raged  in  the 
countries  of  the  old  world,  which  has  raraged  the 
fairest  poriions  of  the  earth,  and  caused  her  sons,  to 
drink  deep  of  the  cup  of  human  misery — not  satiated 
by  the  myriads  of  victims  which  have  been  sacrific 
ed  at  its  shrine,  has  reached  our  hitherto  peaceful 
shores.  After  years  of  forbearance,  in  despite  of 
concessions  without  number,  we  had  almost  said, 
without  limitation,  that  cruel  and  unrelenting  spirit 
of  oppression  and  injustice  which  has  for  centuries 
characterized  the  spirit  of  the  British  cabinet,  over 
whelmed  nation  after  nation,  and  caused  humanity 


APPENDIX.  47 

to  shed  tears  of  blood,  has  involved  us  in  a  war,— 
on  the  termination  of  which  are  staked  the  present 
honor,  and  the  future  welfare  of  America. 

While  jhus  engaged  in  an  arduous  and  interesting 
struggle  with  the  open  enemies  of  our  land  from 
without,  the  formation  of  your  government  requires 
that  you  should  exercise  the  elective  franchise, — a 
right  which  in  every  other  country  has  been  destroy 
ed  by  the  ruthless  hand  of  power,  or  blasted  by  the 
unhallowed  touch  of  corruption  ;  but  which,  by  the 
blessings  of  a  munificent  Providence,  has  as  yet  been 
preserved  ioyou  in  its  purity. 

The  selection  of  your  most  important  functiona 
ries  is  at  hand.  In  a  government  like  ours,  where 
all  power  and  sovereignty  rests  with  the  people,  the 
exercise  of  this  right,  and  the  consequent  expression 
of  public  interest  and  public  feeling,  is  on  ordinary 
occasions,  a  matter  of  deep  concern,  but  at  a  period 
like  the  present,  of  vital  importance; — to  satisfy  you 
of  that  importance,  and  to  advise  you  in  its  exercise, 
is  the  object  of  this  address. 

Fellow  Citizens — Your  country  is  at  war,  and 
Great  Britain  is  her  enemy.  Indulge  us  in  a  brief 
examination  of  the  causes  which  have  led  to  it  ;  and 
brief  as  from  the  necessary  limits  of  an  address  it 
must  be, — we  yet  hope  it  will  be  found  sufficient  to 
convince  every  honest  man,  of  THE  HIGH  JUSTICE 

AND    INDISPENSJBLE    NECESSITY    OP    THE  ATTITUDE, 


48  APPENDIX. 

WHICH  OUR  GOVERNMENT  HAS  TAKEN  ;  OF  THE  SA 
CKED  DUTY  OP  EVERY  REAL  AMERICAN  TO  SUPPORT 
IT  IN  THAT  ATTITUDE,  AND  OF  THE  PARRICIDAL 
VIEWS  OF  THOSE  WHO  REFUSE  TO  DO  SO. 

[Here  follows  an  eloquent  summary  of  the  causes 
which  led  to  the  war — of  the  preliminary  efforts,  the 
embargo,  non-intercourse,  &c.  to  induce  the  bellige- 
rent  nations  to  do  us  justice  without  a  resort  to  that 
alternative — and  of  the  series  of  aggressions  on  the 
part  of  Great  Britain,  which  rendered  it,  in  the  lan 
guage  of  the  address,  a  measure  of  u  high  justice  and 
indispensible  necessity.'7] 

By  this  last  act  [the  disavowal  of  the  British  gov 
ernment  of  the  arrangement  of  Mr.  Erskine,  and  the 
formal  re-enactment,  by  that  government,  of  the  or 
ders  in  council,  the  doors  of  conciliation  were  effec 
tually  closed.]  The  American  people — a  people 
rich  in  resources,  possessed  of  a  high  sense  of  national 
honor,  the  only  free  people  on  earth — had  resolved 
in  the  face  of  an  observing  world,  that  those  orders 
were  a  direct  attack  upon  their  sovereignty  ;  that  a 
submission  to  them  involved  a  surrender  of  their 
independence — and  a  solemn  determination  to  ad 
here  to  them,  was  officially  declared  by  the  ruler  of 
the  British  nation.  Thus  situated,  what  was  your 
government  to  do  ?  Was  there  room  for  doubt  or 
hesitation  as  to  the  hostile  views  of  England?  No. 
Lest  such  doubts  might  prevent  a  rupture,  to  acts  of 


APPENDIX.  49 

violent  injustice,  were  continually  added  acts  of  the 
most  opprobrious  insult.  While  the  formal  rela 
tions  of  amity  remained  yet  unbroken — while  peace 
was  yet  supposed  to  exist — in  cool  blood  an  unpro 
voked  attack  is  made  upon  one  of  your  national  ships, 
and  several  American  citizens  basely  and  cowardly 
murdered.  At  the  moment  your  feelings  were  at 
the  highest  pitch  of  irritation  in  consequence  of  the 
perfidious  disavowal  of  Erskine's  agreement,  a  mi 
nister  is  sent,  not  to  minister  to  your  rights — not  to 
extenuate  the  conduct  of  his  predecessor — but  to 
beard  your  Executive — to  add  insult  to  injury; 
and  to  fling  contumely  and  reproach  in  the  face  of 
the  Executive  of  the  American  nation,  in  the  pre 
sence  of  the  American  people. 

To  cap  the  climax  of  her  iniquity;  to  fill  up  the 
measure  of  our  wrongs;  she  resolved  to  persist  in 
another  measure,  surpassed  by  none  in  flagrant  enor 
mity — a  measure,  which  of  itsel-f  was  adequate  cause 
of  war — a  measure  which  had  excited  the  liveliest 
solicitude,  ana1  received  the  unremitting  attention  of 
every  administration  of  our  government,  from  the 
time  of  Washington  to  the  present  day;  the  wicked, 
the  odious  and  detestable  practice  of  impressing  Amer 
ican  seamen  into  her  service;  of  entombing  our  sons 
within  the  walls  of  her  ships  of  war:  compelling  them 
to  waste  their  lives,  and  spill  their  blood  in  the  ser 
vice  of  a  foreign  government — a  practice  which  sub- 
5 


50  APPENDIX. 

jected  every  American  tar,  to  the  violence  and  petty 
tyranny  of  a  British  midshipman,  and  many  of  them 
to  a  life  of  the  most  galling  servitude — a  practice 
which  never  can  be  submitted  to  by  a  nation  profess 
ing  claims  to  freedom;  which  never  can  be  acquies 
ced  in  by  government  without  rescinding  the  great 
article  of  our  safety,  the  reciprocity  of  obedience  and 
protection  between  the  rulers  and  the  ruled. 

Under  such  accumulated  circumstances  of  insult 
and  of  injury,  we  ask  again,  what  was  your  govern 
ment  to  do?  We  put  the  question  not  "to  that 
faction  which  misrepresents  the  government  to  the 
people,  and  the  people  to  the  government;  traduces 
one-half  of  the  nation  to  cajole  the  other — and  by 
keeping  up  distrust  and  division,  wishes  to  become 
the  proud  arbiter  ef.the  fortune  and  fate  of  America," 
— not  to  them,  but  to  every  sound  head  and  honest 
heart  in  the  nation  it  is  that  we  put  the  question, — 
What  was  your  government  to  do?  Was  she  base 
ly  and  ingloriously  to  abandon  the  rights  for  which 
you  and  your  fathers  fought  and  bled?  Was  she  so 
early  to  cower  to  the  nation  which  had  sought  to  stran 
gle  us  in  our  infancy,  and  which  has  never  ceased  to 
retard  our  approach  to  manhood?  No:  we  will  not 
for  a  moment  doubt,  that  every  man  who  is  in  truth  and 
fact  an  American,  will  say  that  WAR,  AND  WAR 
ALONE,  ivas  our  only  refuge  from  national  degra 
dation, — our  only  course  to  national  prosperity. 


APPENDIX.  51 

Fellow  Citizens — Throughout  the  whole  period  of 
the  political  struggles,  which  if  they  have  not  abso 
lutely  disgraced,  have  certainly  not  exalted,  our  cha 
racter;  no  remark  was  more  common — no  expecta 
tion  more  cheerfully  indulged  in — than  that  those 
severe  and  malevolent  contentions  would  only  be 
sustained  in  time  of  peace;  that  when  the  country 
should  be  involved  in  war,  every  wish,  and  every 
sentiment  would  be  exclusively  American.  But 
unfortunately  for  our  country,  those  reasonable  ex 
pectations  have  not  been  realized,  notwithstanding 
every  one  knows,  that  the  power  of  declaring  war, 
and  the  duty  of  supporting  it,  belong  to  the  general 
government;  notwithstanding  that  the  constitutional 
remedy  for  the  removal  of  the  men  to  whom  this 
power  is  thus  delegated,  has  recently  been  afforded; 
notwithstanding  the  re-election  of  the  same  Presi 
dent  by  whom  this  war  was  commenced,  and  a  ma 
jority  of  representatives,  whose  estimate  of  our  rights, 
and  whose  views  are  similar  to  those  who  first  de 
clared  it;  men,  who  by  the  provisions  of  the  consti 
tution,  must  retain  their  respective  stations  for  a 
period  of  such  duration,  as  precludes  a  continued  op 
position  of  their  measures  without  a  complete  de 
struction  of  our  national  interest — an  opposition  at 
once  unceasing  and  malignant,  is  still  continued,  to 
every  measure  of  the  administration. 

Fellow  Citizens,  these  things  will  not  do.     They 


52  APPENDIX. 

are  intrinsically  wrong:  your  country  has  engaged 
in  a  war  in  the  last  degree  unavoidable;  it  is  not 
waged  to  the  destruction  of  the  rights  of  others;  but 
in  defence  of  our  own;  it  is,  therefore,  your  boundcn 
duty  to  support  her.  You  should  lay  down  the  cha 
racter  of  partizans,  and  become  patriots;  for,  in 
every  country,  "  war  becomes  an  occasional  duty, 
though  it  ought  never  to  be  made  an  occupation.— 
Every  man  should  become  a  soldier  in  defence  of  his 
rights;  no  man  ought  to  continue  a  soldier  for  of 
fending  the  rights  of  others. "  In  despite  of  truths  so 
self-evident,  of  incentives  to  a  vigorous  support  of 
government  so  pressing,  we  yet  have  to  deplore  the 
existence  of  a  faction  in  the  bosom  of  our  land, 
whose  perseverence  and  industry  are  exceeded  only 
by  their  inveteracy;  who  seek  through  every  avenue 
to  mislead  your  judgment  and  to  inflame  your  pas 
sions. 

When  your  government  pursues  a  pacific  policy, 
it  becomes  the  object  of  their  scorn  and  derision;  the 
want  of  energy  in  your  rulers  is  decried,  as  a  matter 
of  alarming  consideration;  the  injuries  of  your  coun 
try  are  admitted,  and  the  fact  is  triumphantly  alleged 
that  "  the  administration  cannot  be  kicked  into  a 
war."  When  they  are  impelled  to  a  forcible  vindi 
cation  of  our  rights,  the  cry  of  enmity  to  peace,  of 
a  wish  to  war  with  England  to  serve  France,  is  im 
mediately  resounded  through  the  land.  When  war 


APPENDIX.  53 

is  declared,  public  opinion  is  sought  to  be  prejudiced 
against  the  measure,  as  evencing  a  disposition  unne 
cessarily  to  shed  your  blood,  and  waste  your  treasures. 
When  it  is  discovered,  that  that  declaration  is  accom- 
pained  with  a  proposition,  a  just  and  equitable  pro 
position,  to  the  enemy,  on  which  hostilities  may 
cease  and  peace  be  restored,  that  proposition  is  de 
rided  as  evidence  of  the  most  disgraceful  pusillanimi 
ty.  No  falsehood  is  considered  too  glaring,  no  mis 
representation  too  flagitious,  to  impose  on  your  cre 
dulity,  and  seduce  your  affections  from  your  native 
land. 

Lest  general  allegations  might  fail  to  effect  their 
unholy  purposes,  and  consummate  their  dark  designi, 
specific  charges  are  resorted  to — calumnies  which 
have  again  and  again  met  the  detestation  of  an  en 
lightened  public,  are  periodically  brought  forward, 
new  dressed,  and  with  new  authorities  to  give  them 
credence  with  you.  Among  the  most  prominent  of 
those  charges,  is  that  of  enmity  to  commerce,  on  the 
part  of  the  republican  administrations.  Never  was 
there  a  calumny  more  wicked.  Enmity  to  commerce! 
We  ask,  and  we  ask  emphatically,  were  is  the  evi 
dence  of  it?  What  is  the  basis  on  which  they  rest 
their  claim  to  public  confidence?  It  is  that  the  ad 
ministration  is  engaged  in  a  war  which  they  claim  to 
be  unpopular.  What  are  the  causes  for  which  this 
war  is  waged,  and  which  have  hitherto  embroiled  us 


54  APPENDIX. 

with  the  nations  of  Europe?  They  are  the  violation 
of  our  commercial  rights,  and  the  impressment  of 
our  seamen!  The  administration  then,  are  jeopard 
ising  their  interest  with  the  people;  they  furnish  wea 
pons  of  offence  to  their  adversaries;  they  brave  all 
dangers,  for  the  maintenance  and  support  of  our  com 
mercial  rights;  and  yet  they  are  the  enemies  of  com 
merce!  Can  such  base  sophistry,  such  contemptible 
nonsense,  impose  on  the  credulity,  or  pervert  the  un 
derstanding  of  a  single  honest  man? 

As  auxiliary  to  this  unfounded  aspersion,  the  oft- 
exploded,  the  ten-thousand-times-refuted  tale  of 
French  influence,  is  ever  and  anon  brought  upon  the 
carpet.  It  would  be  insulting  to  your  understand 
ings  to  detain  you  by  a  discussion  of  this  odious  and 
insulting  insinuation.  Was  it  evidence  of  French  in 
fluence  on  the  adoption  of  every  measure  of  commer 
cial  restriction,  to  place  both  France  and  England  on 
the  same  footing?  Was  it  evidence  of  French  influ 
ence  to  cause  it  to  be  officially  notified  to  the  court  of 
St.  James,  on  the  adoption  of  each  of  those  measures, 
that  in  case  they  rescinded  their  orders  in  council, 
the  United  States  would  assume  a  hostile  attitude  to 
wards  France?  Was  it  evidence  of  French  influence 
to  embrace  the  earliest  opportunity  to  conclude  the 
arrangement  with  Erskine — leaving  our  affairs  with 
France  in  a  hostile  attitude?  If  not.,  where,  then,  is 
the  evidence  to  support  this  impudent  censure?  Is 


APPENDIX.  55 

it  to  be  found  in  a  similarity  of  manners,  of  language, 
or  of  feeling?  When  an  Englishman  visits  your 
country,  is  he  not  received  with  the  familiarity,  and 
cherished  with  the  hospitality  of  a  friend?  Is  a 
Frenchman  ever  treated  by  you  otherwise  than  as  a 
stranger?  Away,  then,  with  those  whining,  canting 
professions,  of  fears  and  apprehensions  of  the  danger 
of  French  influence.  Intelligence  must  reject,  and 
integrity  abhor  them. 

But  to  crown  this  picture  of  folly  and  of  mischief, 
they  approach  you  under  a  garb  which  at  once  evin 
ces  their  contempt  for  your  understanding,  and  their 
total  want  of  confidence  in  your  patriotism ;  under  a 
garb  which  should  receive  the  most  distinct  marks  of 
your  detestation;  they  are  "THE  FRIEXDS  OF  PEACE!" 
While  our  enemies  are  waging  against  us  a  cruel  and 
bloody  war,  they  cry  "Peace."  While  our  western 
wilds  are  whitening  with  the  bones  of  our  murder 
ed  woman  and  children — while  their  blood  is  yet 
trickling  down  the  walls  of  their  former  habitations 
—while  the  Indian  war-hoop  and  the  British  drum, 
are  in  unison  saluting  the  ears,  and  the  British  dag 
ger  and  the  Indian  tomahawk  suspended  over  the 
heads  of  our  citizens, — at  such  a  time,  when  the  soul 
of  every  man  who  has  sensibility  to  feel  his  country's 
wrongs,  and  spirit  to  defend  her  rights,  should  be  in 
arms — it  is  that  they  cry  PEACE!  While  the  brave 
American  tar,  the  intrepid  defender  of  our  rights, 


56  APPENDIX. 

and  redeemer  of  our  national  character,  the  present 
boast  and  future  honor  of  our  land — is  impressed  by- 
force  into  a  service  he  detests,  which  compels  a  bro 
ther  to  imbrue  his  hands  in  a  brother's  blood — while 
he  is  yet  "tossing  upon  the  surface  of  the  ocean,  and 
mingling  his  groans  with  those  tempests  less  savage 
than  his  persecutors,  that  waft  him  to  a  returnless 
distance  from  his  family  and  his  home/' — it  is  at 
such  a  period,  when  there  is  no  peace,  when  there 
can  be  no  peace,  without  sacrificing  every  thing  va 
luable — that  our  feelings  are  insulted,  the  public 
arm  paralyzed,  and  the  public  ear  stunned,  by  the 
dastardly  and  incessant  cry  of  PEACE !  What, 
fellow-citizens,  must  be  the  opinion  which  they  en 
tertain  of  you,  who  thus  assail  you?  Can  any  man 
be  so  stupid  as  not  to  perceive  that  it  is  an  appeal  to 
your  fears,  to  your  avarice,  and  to  all  the  baser  pas 
sions  which  actuate  the  human  heart?  That  it  is  ap 
proaching  you  in  the  manner  in  which  alone  those 
puny  politicians  who  buz  about  you,  and  thicken  the 
political  atmosphere,  say  you  are  accessible,  through 
your  fears  and  your  pockets?  Can  any  American 
citizen  be  so  profligate  as  not  to  spurn  indignantly  the 
base  libel  upon  his  character? 

Suffer  yourselves  not  to  be  deceived  by  the  pre 
tence,  that  because  Great  Britain  has  been  forced  by 
her  subjects  to  make  a  qualified  repeal  of  her  orders, 
our  government  ought  to  abandon  her  ground.  That 


APPENDIX.  57 

ground  was   taken  to  resist  two  great  and    crying 
grievances,  the  destruction  of  our  commerce,  and 

THE    IMPRESSMENT    OF    OUR    SEAMEN.       The    latter  IS 

the  most  important,  in  proportion  as  we  prefer  the 
liberty  and  lives  of  our  citizens  to  their  property. 
Distrust,  therefore,  the  man  who  could  advise  your 
government  at  any  time,  and  more  especially  at  this 
time, — when  your  brave  sailors  are  exciting  the  ad 
miration, Tand  forcing  the  respect  of  an  astonished 
world,  when  their  deeds  of  heroic  valor  make  old' 
Ocean  smile  at  the  humiliation  of  her  ancient  tyrant 
— at  such  a  time,  we  say  again,  mark  the  man  who 
would  countenance  government  in  COMMUTING 
OUR  SAILORS'  RIGHTS  FOR  THE  SAFETY 
OF  OUR  MERCHANTS'  GOODS. 

Next  to  the  cry  for  peace,  the  most  potent  spell 
which  has  been  resorted  to,  to  alarm  your  fears  and 
pervert  your  understandings — is  the  alleged  distres 
ses  of  the  country.  Fellow-  citizens,  it  has  been  our 
object,  it  is  our  wish  to  treat  you  fairly,  to  appeal  to 
your  judgments,  not  to  your  passions  ;  and  as  we 
hope  our  address  to  you  hitherto  has  been  marked  by 
that  character — it  is  to  your  consciences  then  that 
we  appeal  upon  this  subject.  Is  not  this  clamor  most 
unfounded,  most  ungrateful  ?  If  you  doubt  that  it  is 
so,  if  you  hesitate  to  believe  that  it  originates  exclu 
sively  with  the  ambitious  and  designing — spend  one 


58  APPENDIX. 

moment  in  comparing  your  situation  with  that  of  the 
major  part  of  the  civilized  world. 

[Here  follows  a  rapid  and  graphic  sketch  of  the 
condition  of  the  several  European  nations ;  conclu 
ding  with  the  following  interrogation, —  <;Look  at 
the  whole  map  of  Europe;  contrast  your  own  situa 
tion  with  theirs ;  and  then  answer  us,  is  it  not  impious 
and  wicked  to  repine  at  our  enviable  lot  ?"] 

Fellow-citizens — should  those  political  witlings, 
who  are  not  only  ignorant  themselves  of  the  leading 
points  of  controversy  in  our  disputes  with  the  belli 
gerents,  but  who  are  uniformly  assailing  you  as  men 
destitute  at  once  of  spirit  and  of  judgment — should 
they  point  to  the  wars  which  agitate  and  have  con 
vulsed  Europe,  as  arguments  against  the  prosecution 
of  that  just  and  necessary  one  which  has  been  forced 
upon  us,  we  know  that  you  will  indignantly  repel 
the  unfounded  suggestion.  The  wars  of  Europe  are 
waged  by  monarchs,  to  gratify  their  individual  ma 
lice,  their  individual  caprice,  and  to  satiate  their  law 
less  ambition.  Ours  is  in  defence  of  rights  which 
must  be  defended,  or  our  glory  as  a  nation  will  be  ex 
tinguished — the  hun  of  our  greatness  will  set  forever. 
As  well  might  it  have  been  said  during  the  revolu 
tion,  that  war  should  not  be  waged,  because  wars  had 
desolated  Europe.  The  same  rights  you  then  fought 
to  obtain,  you  must  now  fight  to  preserve— the  con- 


APPENDIX.  59 

test  is  the  same  now  as  it  was  then — and  the  feel 
ings  which  then  agitated  the  public  mind,  which  on 
the  one  hand  supported,  and  on  the  other  sought  to 
destroy,  the  liberties  of  the  country,  will  be  seen 
and  felt  in  the  conduct  of  the  men  of  this  day. 

Fellow-citizens — we  are  compelled  to  close  this 
appeal  to  you.  The  limits  of  an  address  will  not 
permit  us  to  do  justice  to  the  various  subjects  which 
should  occupy  your  attention.  We  are  aware  that 
this  has  been  already  unreasonably  extended  ;  but  the 
period  has  arrived  when  mere  words  and  idle  decla 
rations  must  be  unavailing.  We  have,  therefore,  felt 
it  our  duty  to  give  you,  as  far  as  practicable,  a  clear 
view  of  your  true  situation,  of  your  legitimate  duties. 
Unfortunately  for  us,  when  we  ought  to  be  an  uni 
ted,  we  are  a  divided  people.  The  divisions  which 
agitate  us  are  not  as  to  men  only,  but  to  principle. — 
You  will  be  called  on  at  the  next  election,  to  choose 
between  different  candidates,  not  only  for  the  two 
great  offices  of  state,  governor  and  lieutenant  gover 
nor,  but  for  every  other  elective  office — to  make  a 
selection  which  the  actual  situation  of  your  country 
renders  of  infinite  importance. 

We  are  divided  between  the  supporters  and  oppo- 
sers  of  our  government.  We  have  witnessed  the 
distressing  truth,  that  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  cir 
cumstances  to  destroy  the  virulence  of  party  spirit. 
The  opposition  offer  for  your  support,  men,  who, 


(J0  APPENDIX. 

whatever  their  private  wishes  may  be,  are  devoted  to 
the  support  of  a  party  whose  views  and  whose  con 
duct  we  have  attempted  to  delineate.  In  opposition 
to  them,  we  respectfully  solicit  your  support  for  the 
men  whose  nomination  accompanies  this  addres,  one 
of  whom  [DANIEL  D.  TOMPKINS]  has  for  six  years 
served  you  in  the  capacity  which  we  now  offer  him  ; 
the  other  [JoHN  TAYLER]  has  for  many  years  served 
you  in  the  most  responsible  situations.  The  notorie 
ty  of  their  merits  supersedes  the  necessity  of  our  eu- 
logium — their  lives  are  their  best  encomiums  ;  they 
are  the  true  friends  of  commerce,  their  views  are, 
and  their  conduct  will  be,  in  unison  with  the  mea 
sures  of  the  general  government;  they  are  the  sin 
cere  friends  of  an  honorable  peace,  the  firm  and  ener 
getic  opposers  of  a  base  surrender  of  our  rights. 

We  respectfully  solicit  for  them  your  undivided 
support.  We  solemnly  conjure  every  real  friend  to 
his  country,  to  reflect  on  the  danger  of  abandoning 
his  government  at  a  period  so  perilous ;  to  reflect  on 
the  impropriety  of  even  indirectly  aiding  the  views 
of  our  enemies  by  continuing  his  opposition  to  go 
vernment  at  a  period  so  eventful. 

[Alluding  to  the  republicans  who  had  advocated 
Mr.  Clinton's  election  to  the  presidency,  the  address 
has  the  following  appeal:]  We  solicit  the  honest  men 
of  all  parties — to  remember  that  ours  is  the  last  re 
public — that  all  the  influence  of  the  crowned  heads  of 


APPENDIX.  61 

Europe  has  been  exerted  to  propagate  the  doctrine, 
that  a  government  like  ours  can  never  stand  the  rude 
shock  of  war;  to  reflect  that  this  is  the  first  occasion 
in  which  this  government  has  been  engaged  in  a  war, 
and  that  the  great  and  interesting  questions,  whe 
ther  man  is  capable  of  self-government,  whether  our 
republic  must  go  the  way  of  its  predecessors,  or 
whether,  supported  by  the  hearts  and  arms  of  her  free 
citizens,  she  shall  deride  the  revilings,  and  defeat  the 
machinations  of  her  citizens,  are  now  io  be  tried. 

Fellow-citizens — In  the  result  of  our  elections  du 
ring  the  continuance  of  this  war,  these  important 
considerations  are  involved, — the  question  of  WHO  is 

FOR    HIS  COUNTRY  OR    AGAINST    HIS    COUNTRY,  must 

now  be  tried — the  eyes  of  Europe  are  directed  to 
wards  us — the  efficacy  of  your  mHd  and  wholesome 
form  of  government  is  put  to  the  test.  To  the  polls, 
then,  and  by  a  united  and  vigorous  support  of  the 
candidates  we  submit  to  you,  discharge  the  great 
duty  you  owe  to  your  country,  preserve  for  your 
posterity  the  rich  inheritance  which  has  been  left 
you  by  your  ancestors, — that  future  ages  may  tri 
umphantly  point  to  the  course  you  pursued  on  this 
interesting  occasion,  as  evidence  that  time  had  not  as 
yet  extinguished  that  spirit  which  actuated  the  he 
roes  of  JBreedshill  and  of  Yorktown;  of  those  who 
fell  at  Camden,  and  of  those  who  conquered  on  the 

plains  of  Saratoga. 
6 


62  APPENDIX. 


PREAMBLE  AND  RESOLUTION 
Prepared  by  Mr.  VAN  BuREN,/0r  a  meeting  of  the 
Republican  Members  of  the  Legislature  of  New- 
York,  and  other  Republicans  of  that  State,  held 
at  Mbany  on  the  M/A  of  April,  IS  14,  and  adop 
ted  by  that  meeting. 

At  this  interesting  period  of  our  national  affairs, 
when  our  government  is  combatting  with  a  wily,  vin 
dictive  and  sanguinary  foe;  when  domestic  disaffec 
tion  and  foreign  partialities  present  their  fronts  at  eve 
ry  corner:  arid  when  the  present  hopes  and  future 
prospects  of  the  people  of  New- York  are  to  be  tested 
by  the  exercise  of  the  elective  franchise, — at  a  period 
of  such  anxiety  and  solicitude,  this  meeting,  compo 
sed  of  citizens  from  almost  every  section  of  the  state, 
take  the  liberty  of  publicly  expressing  their  senti 
ments  on  the  subject. 

That  "  every  difference  of  opinion  is  not  a  differ 
ence  of4  principle" — that  on  the  various  operations  of 
government  with  which  the  public  welfare  is  connec 
ted,  an  honest  difference  of  opinion  may  exist — that 
when  those  differences  are  discussed  and  the  princi 
ples  of  contending  parties  are  supported  with  candor, 
fairness  and  moderation — the  very  discord  which  is 
thus  produced,  may, in  a  government  like  ours,  be  con 
ducive  to  the  public  good — we  cheerfully  admit. 


APPENDIX.  £3 

Bat  when,  on  the  other  hand,  the  opposition 
clearly  evince  that  all  their  clamors  are  the  result  of 
predetermined  and  immutable  hostility — when,  as  be 
tween  their  own  government,  and  the  open  enemies 
of  the  land,  they  dare,  as  circumstances  may  require, 
unblushingly  justify,  excuse  or  palliate  the  conduct  of 
the  latter,  and  falsify,  calumniate  and  condemn  that 
of  the  former — when  too  in  the  means  which  are  used 
to  effect  such  unhallowed  purposes,  they  are  alike 
indifferent  to  the  salutary  provisions  of  the  constitu 
tion,  to  the  requisitions  of  national  interest  and  the 
obvious  dictates  of  national  honor; — that  at  such  a 
time  it  is  the  duty  of  every  sound  patriot  to  do  his 
utmost  to  arrest  their  guilty  career,  and  to  rescue  from 
their  aspiring  grasp  his  bleeding  country, — no  good 
man  will  deny. 

To  prove  that  such  has  been  the  conduct  and  that 
such  are  and  have  been  the  views  of  the  party  in  this 
country,  which  styles  \tse\f  federal— ~  that  their  "his 
tory  is  a  history  of  repeated  injuries  and  usurpations, 
all  having  for  their  object"  either  the  subjection  of 
the  rights  and  interests  of  their  country,  to  her  an 
cient  and  unceasing  foe,  or  a  base  prostitution  of  its 
fair  fame  for  selfish  and  ambitious  purposes,  "  let 
facts  be  submitted  to  an  intelligent  and  patriotic  pep- 
.pie." 

Their  opposition  for  the  last  13  years  has 
.universal,  malignant  and  unceasing. 


04  APPENDIX. 

Their  opposition  was  equally  virulent  when  our 
country  was  basking  in  the  sunshine  of  unparalleled 
prosperity,  as  it  has  been,  while  her  political  horizon 
has  been  obscured  by  the  clouds  of  adversity. 

They  opposed  the  abolition  of  internal  taxes,  when 
those  taxes  were  rendered  unnecessary  by  the  general 
prosperity  of  the  country. 

They  opposed  the  imposition  of  the  same  taxes, 
when  the  imposition  became  necessary  to  the  main 
tenance  of  our  national  honor. 

They  opposed  the  reduction  of  the  national  debt, 
when  the  means  of  its  reduction  were  in  the  power 
of  government. 

They  opposed  the  increase  of  the  national  debt, 
when  its  increase  or  an  abandonment  of  every  attri 
bute  of  a  free  people  had  become  our  only  alterna 
tive. 

They  clamored  much  on  account  of  the  aggressions 
on  our  commerce  by  the  belligerents,  and  their  mer 
chants  presented  petition  after  petition  and  memorial 
after  memorial  to  Congress,  that  they  should  vindicate 
our  commercial  rights. 

They  have  uniformly  calumniated  and  opposed 
every  measure  of  the  government  adopted  for  their 
vindication  or  support. 

They  opposed  all  commercial  restrictions  on  the 
ground  of  their  inefficacy,  contended  that  war  and  war 
alone  was  the  proper  course  for  government  to  pursue, 


APPENDIX.  05 

and  on  this  subject  they  triumphantly  declared  "that 
the  administration  could  not  be  kicked  into  a  war.*' 

They  opposed  the  war  when  it  was  declared,  on 
the  ground  that  it  was  impolitic,  unjust  and  unneces 
sary. 

They  have  always  claimed  to  be  the  friends  of  or 
der  and  the  constitution,  and  as  such  friends  of  order 
and  the  constitution,  their  opposition  to  government 
in  the  prosecution  of  the  present  just  and  necessary 
war,  has  been  characterized  by  acts  of  violence  and 
depravity  without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  any 
civilized  government. 

To  enumerate  the  various  acts  by  which  the  feel 
ings  of  (he  American  people  have  been  wounded  and 
insulted,  this  occasion  will  not  permit — let  the  most 
prominent,  therefore,  be  alone  considered.  While 
the  combined  power  of  the  enemy  and  his  savage 
allies  has  been  directed  against  us,  and  our  frontiers 
have  been  drenched  with  the  blood  of  unoffending 
women  and  children,  the  undivided  powers  of  the 
opposition  have  been  exerted — 

To  destroy  all  confidence  between  the  people  and 
their  government — 

To  misrepresent  the  latter  and  to  deceive,  distract 
and  cajole  the  former — To  deprive  the  government  of 
the  two  great  sinews  of  war,  men  and  money  ;  pre 
venting  enlistments  by  discountenancing  and  calum 
niating  both  officers  and  soldiers — defeating  the  nc- 
6* 


6G  APPENDIX. 

eessary  loans  by  attempting  to  shake  the  confidence 
of  the  people  in  the  stability  of  their  government — 

To  render  the  war  odious  and  unpopular,  by  the 
most  flagrant  perversions  of  the  matter  in  controver 
sy,  and  of  the  pretensions  of  our  government ;  by  the 
most  criminal  justification  of  the  conduct  of  the  ene 
my  ;  and  by  the  vilest  extenuation  of  all  their  enor 
mities — 

To  paralyze  the  arm  of  government  and  frighten 
the  weak  and  timid  from  its  support,  by  exciting  in 
surrection  and  rebellion  in  the  east ;  by  openly  threat 
ening  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  and  laboring  inces 
santly  to  sow  the  seeds  of  jealousy  and  disunion  be 
tween  the  .Northern  and  Southern  States  ;  and  by  ex 
ercising  in  each  state  the  same  unworthy  means  as 
are  practiced  by  them  throughout  the  Union. 

For  while  in  this  state  they  profess  great  solici 
tude  for  the  sufferings  of  our  citizens  on  the  frontiers, 
they  have  invariably  opposed  the  raising  a  volunteer 
corps  for  their  defence,  unless  under  the  disgraceful 
stipulation  that  they  shall  not  annoy  the  enemy. 

While  also  they  seek  to  hide  the  deformity  of  their 
conduct  in  relation  to  our  army,  by  professing  attach 
ment  to  the  naval  service  ;  we  find  them  opposing 
with  disgusting  violence  a  bill  to  encourage  privateer 
ing  which  passed  the  Senate  of  this  state,  but  was 
negatived  by  the  Assembly,  because  it  had  for  its 
object  to  harrass  the  enemy. 


APPENDIX,  67 

But  we  forbear  the  enumeration  of  acts  evincing 
such  deplorable  degeneracy  in  a  great  portion  of  the 
American  people;  acts  so  well  calculated  to  continue 
the  war  into  which  our  country  has  been  driven — to 
tarnish  our  national  character — and  unless  success 
fully  resisted,  to  drive  our  government  to  an  injuri 
ous  and  disgraceful  peace : 

Therefore  Resolved,  That  while  we  congratulate 
our  fellow  citizens  on  the  happy  revival  of  the  feel 
ings,  sentiments  and  spirit  of  the  Revolution,  which 
is  every  where  manifesting  itself;  and  our  republican 
brethren  in  particular,  on  the  heart-cheering  zeal  and 
unanimity  which  pervade  their  ranks,  which  promise 
the  total  overthrow  of  that  anti-Anlerican  spirit, 
which,  disguised  under  the  specious  garb  of  federal 
ism,  has  too  long  preyed  upon  the  vitals  of  the  nation — 
and  which  excite  a  lively  hope  that  the  councils  of  this 
great  and  powerful  state  will  speedily  be  wholly  res 
cued  from  the  hands  of  those  who  have  disgraced  them 
— We  warmly  and  earnestly  conjure  our  republican 
brethren,  by  the  regard  they  have  for  their  own  rights 
by  the  love  they  bear  their  country  ;  and  by  the 
manes  of  the  departed  worthies  of  the  revolution,  to 
be  up  and  doing,  and  so  to  act,  that  at  the  termina 
tion  of  the  contest,  each  of  them  may  triumphantly  ex 
claim — "  I  have  fought  a  good  fight — I  have  finished 
my  course — I  have  kept  the  faith." 


68  APPENDIX. 

Answer  of  the  Senate  of  New  York  to  the  speech 
of  the  Governor,  at  the  extra  session  of  the  leg**- 
lature  held  in  September  1814,  draughted  by 
Mr.  VAN  BUREN. 

To  his  Excellency,  I).  D.  Tompkins,  Governor  of  New  York. 

SIR — The  Senate,  at  the  close  of  their  last  session, 
indulged,  in  common  with  their  fellow  citizens,  the 
pleasing  expectation,  that  before  this  period  the 
blessings  of  peace  upon  just  and  honorable  terms 
would  have  been  restored  to  their  country.  They 
have  thus  far  been  disappointed  ;  and  although  the 
mission  to  which  they  looked  for  its  accomplishment 
has  not  yet  terminated,  the  delay  which  has  taken 
place  in  the  commencement  of  negociations,  and  the 
spirit  of  increased  hostility  manifested  by  the  enemy 
in  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  combine  to  forbid  any 
confident  reliance  upon  the  disposition  professed  by 
him  in  the  communication  which  led  to  that  mission. 

If,  in  the  result,  it  shall  appear,  that  in  these  pro 
fessions  he  was  originally  insincere;  or  that,  influ 
enced  by  after  circumstances,  he  delayed  the  nego 
ciations  proposed  by  himself,  until  he  should  have 
exerted  against  us  the  additional  means  of  annoyance 
which  recent  occurrences  in  Europe  had  placed  at 
his  disposal — the  world  will  not  hesitate,  in  either 
case,  to  pronounce  upon  his  conduct  the  sentence  of 
strong  and  indignanl  reprobation. 


APPENDIX.  69 

The  world  have  already  seen,  and  they  cannot 
but  have  seen  with  astonishment,  that  when  ambas 
sadors  for  peace,  invited  by  himself,  had  already 
crossed  the  ocean,  he  has  given  a  new  and  peculiar 
character  to  the  contest — a  character  of  violence  and 
outrage,  not  only  incompatible  with  the  feelings  of 
reconciliation,  but  in  the  highest  degree  disgraceful 
to  civilized  nations,  and  repugnant  to  the  established 
rules  of  legitimate  warfare. 

Whether  this  conduct  has  proceeded  from  ancient 
animosities  now  seeking  their  gratification,  in  the  in 
fliction  of  injuries  upon  those  who  once  defied  and 
foiled  his  power — whether  from  a  desire  of  finding 
employment  for  troops  whom  it  was  not  thought 
prudent  to  disband  at  home — whether  from  hostility 
to  our  civil  institutions,  and  the  vain  hope  of  sub 
verting  the  fair  fabric  which  by  the  wisdom,  the 
virtue,  and  the  valor  of  our  fathers,  has  been  reared 
and  secured  to  us — or  from  a  calculation  that  by  carry 
ing  his  arms  into  the  heart  of  the  country,  and  mark 
ing  his  course  with  desolation  and  ruin,  he  could 
make  an  impression  on  the  government  which  should 
avail  him  in  the  proposed  negociations,  or  on  the 
people  which  should  be  remembered  to  his  advan 
tage  in  any  question  which  should  hereafter  arise  be 
tween  the  nations — whatever  may  have  been  his 
motives,  or  whatever  his  expectations,  the  Senate 
cannot  but  exult  in  common  with  your  excellency 


70  APPENDIX: 

and  the  country,  that  thus  far  "we  have  sustained 
the  shock  with  firmness  and  gathered  laurels  from 
the  strife." 

Although  he  has  succeeded  in  penetrating  to 
the  capitol,  his  momentary  triumph,  disgraced  as  it 
was  by  the  destruction  of  public  edifices  and  the  sub 
sequent  plunder  of  a  defenceless  city,  has  before  this 
<ime  been  imbittered  by  the  reflection,  that  by  the 
conflagration  of  those  monuments  of  art  which  pub- 
iic  spirit  and  munificence  had  erected,  and  which 
were  consecrated  by  the  name  of  their  illustrious 
founder,  he  has  kindled  a  flame  of  patriotism  which 
pervades  every  section  of  the  union,,  which  has  al 
ready  lit  the  way  to  his  servere  discomfiture,  and 
which  threatens  his  complete  annihilation,  at  every 
assailable  point  of  the  union  to  which  his  ambition  or 
bis  resentment  may  lead  him. 

The  Senate  have  witnessed  with  the  same  admi 
ration,  evinced  by  your  excellency,  the  brilliant 
achievments  of  our  army  and  navy  during  the  pre 
sent  campaign — achievments,  which,  in  their  imme 
diate  effects,  have  been  so  highly  and  extensively 
beneficial  to  our  frontier  citizens — achievements 
which  have  pierced  the  gloom,  that  for  a  season  ob- 
secured  our  political  horizon  and  dispelled  those  fear 
ful  forebodings  which  past  disasters  had  excited — ex 
ploits  which  will  not  suffer  in  a  comparison  with  the 
jmost  heroic  efforts  of  the  veterans  of  the  eld  world, 


APPENDIX.  7| 

which  have  fully  maintained  if  not  enhanced  the 
f>roud  and  enviable  fame  of  our  gallant  seamen — ex 
ploits  which  have  covered  the  actors  in  those  bright 
scenes  with  never  fading  laurels,  and  which  will? 
until  public  gratitude  ceases  to  be  a  public  virtue, 
call  for  the  highest  testimonials  which  a  free  people 
can  yeld  to  freemen — unceasing  reverence  for  the  me 
mories  of  those  who  have  died  on  the  field  of  honor, 
and  acts  of  unceasing  gratitude  to  their  heroic  survivors. 

The  Senate  have  seen  with  great  satisfaction,  the 
prompt  and  efficacious  measures  adopted  by  your  ex 
cellency  to  avert  the  dangers  which  threatened  the 
State;  and  believing  as  they  do,  that  whatever  exe 
cutive  authority  may  have  been  exercised,  for  which 
no  legislative  provision  existed,  has  not  only  beea 
intended  for  ihe  promotion  of  the  public  good,  but 
was  rendered  indispensable  by  the  pressure  of  exist 
ing  circumstances;  they  cannot  doubt  that  the  mea 
sures  to  which  your  excellency  has  referred,  will  be 
found  to  deserve  their  approbation  and  support. 

The  Senate  cannot  forego  the  opportunity  afforded 
them,  of  uniting  with  your  excellency,  in  an  expres 
sion  of  the  high  satisfaction  with  which  they  have 
witnessed  the  unanimity  and  patriotism  displayed  by 
all  classes  of  the  community  in  the  present  crisis, 
and  the  disposition  which  they  have  manifested  to 
combine  their  efforts  for  the  maintenance  of  national 
honor  and  common  safety. 


72  APPENDIX. 

That  on  questions  of  general  policy,  or  the  fitness 
of  individuals  for  particular  stations,  we  should  ever 
be  exempted  from  differences  of  opinion  is  not  to  be 
expected.  Divisions  like  those  are  inseparable 
from  the  blessings  of  our  free  constitution  ;  and  al 
though  sometimes  carried  to  an  excess  which  all  good 
men  must  deplore,  they  are,  notwithstanding,  gene 
rally  productive  of  much  national  good.  But  to  sup 
pose  that  a  people  jealous  of  their  rights  and  proud  of 
their  national  character,  would  on  a  question  of  resist 
ing  the  aggressions  of  an  open  enemy — aggressions 
which  have  polluted  our  soil,  and  which  threaten  the 
subversion  of  those  inestimable  political  institutions 
which  have  been  consecrated  to  freedom  by  the  blood 
and  sufferings  of  their  fathers — that  on  a  question  of 
such  vital  interest,  so  well  calculated  to  excite  all  the  pa 
triotism,  to  arouse  all  the  spirit,  and  to  call  into  action 
all  the  energies  of  the  nation,  they  would  waste  their 
strength  in  useless  collision  with  each  other — would 
be  a  reflection  upon  their  discernment  and  their  cha 
racter,  which  they  can  never  merit. 

The  various  other  subjects  submitted  by  your  ex 
cellency  to  the  legislature,  will  receive  from  the  Sen 
ate  that  prompt  attention  to  which  their  importance 
entitles  them. 

The  important  interest  which  the  state  of  New 
York  has  in  the  successful  termination  of  the  contro 
versy  in  which  we  are  involved,  and  the  high  desti- 


APPENDIX.  73 

ny  to  which  her  local  situation,  the  extent  and  variety 
of  her  resources,  and  the  valor  and  patriotism  of  her 
citizens,  aided  by  a  just  and  liberal  policy,  may  ad 
vance  her,  have  been  duly  appreciated  by  your  ex" 
cellency.  The  Senate  cheerfully  pledge  their  best 
exertions  to  realize  those  great  and  well  founded  ex 
pectations;  and  relying  on  the  patriotism  and  good 
sense  of  the  American  people,  they  confidently  trust 
that  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  nation  will  be 
maintained,  and  that  at  no  distant  period  the  mild  reign 
of  peace  will  be  restored  to  our  bleeding  country. 


Resolutions  expressive  of  the  sentiments  oj  the  le 
gislature  of  New  York  in  relation  to  the  victory 
of  the  Sth  of  January,  18 1 5, prepared  by  Mr, 
VAN  BUREN,  February  loth,  1815. 

"  Whereas,  in  all  ages  and  in  every  clime,  even 
among  the  most  uncivilised  of  mankind,  the  love  of 
country  and  the  love  of  glory,  the  spirit  of  patriot 
ism  and  of  heroism,  have  never  failed  to  excite  ad 
miration,  to  call  forth  applause,  and  to  be  crowned  by 
those  grateful  rewards  which  are  ever  dear  to  the 
brave,  the  virtuous,  and  the  wise: 

"And  whereas,  the  duty  of  cherishing  senti 
ments  so  intimately  connected  with  the  welfare,  ho 
nor  and  prosperity  of  nations,  devolves  in  a  peculiar 


74  APPENDIX. 

manner  upon  the  rulers  of  a  people  whose  freedom 
and  independence  are  the  bright  rewards  of  the  pa 
triotism  and  the  valor  of  their  ancestors,  and  can 
only  be  preserved  by  the  exercise  of  the  same  inesti 
mable  and  exalted  virtues: 

"  Therefore,  Resolved  unanimously,  as  the  sense 
of  this  legislature,  that  Major  General  ANDREW 
JACKSON,  and  the  gallant  officers  and  soldiers  under 
his  command,  for  their  noble  defence  of  the  city  of 
New  Orleans,  that  important  military  post  and  grand 
emporium  of  commerce,  especially  in  the  ever  me 
morable  conflict  of  the  8th  of  January  last,  an  event 
surpassing  the  most  heroic  and  wonderful  achiev- 
ments  which  adorn  the  annals  of  mankind?  do 
eminently  deserve  the  unanimous  applause,  and  the 
lasting  gratitude  of  their  country. 

Resolved,  unanimously,  That  the  thanks  of  this 
legislature  be,  and  they  are  hereby  presented  to 
Major  General  JACKSON,  and  the  oflicers  and  sol 
diers  under  his  command,  for  that  heroic  and  glo 
rious  achievment. 

Resolved,  unanimously,  That  these  resolutions 
be  signed  by  the  president  of  the  senate  and  speaker 
of  the  house  of  assembly,  that  his  excellency  the  Go  - 
vernor  be,  and  he  is  hereby  requested  to  transmit  a 
copy  of  the  same  to  Major  General  JACKSON,  who  is 

"  NOTE. — The  words  in  Italic,  were  stricken  out  after  the 
resolutions  were  reported  to  the  legislature. 


APPENDIX.  75 

requested  to  communicate  to  his  brave  associates  in 
arms,  the  grateful  sense  which  this  legislature  enter* 
tain  of  their  signal  services,  in  such  manner  as  h« 
may  deem  consonant  with  the  occasion. 


Extracts  from  a  report  submitted  to  the  Senate  of 
New  York,  on  the  24th  of  February,  1815,  by 
Mr.  VAN  BUREN,  recommending  a  loan  to  the 
General  Government  for  the  payment  of  the  mi 
litia. 

"  The  committee  further  respectfully  suggest  that 
the  services  proposed  to  be  rewarded,  have  been  ren 
dered  by  persons  who,  generally  speaking,  are  in 
immediate  want  of  the  sums  respectively  due  to 
them,  and  to  whom  further  delay  would  be  injurious 
and  distressing — that  in  the  opinion  of  the  committee, 
their  claims  to  the  friendly  aid  of  this  state,  are  not 
confined  to  their  wants,  but  are  infinitely  enhanced 
by  the  virtue  and  patriotism  of  the  objects  of  that 
aid — that  the  moneys  proposed  to  be  loaned  are  prin 
cipally  due  to  the  militia  of  the  northern  and  west 
ern  parts  of  this  state,  and  such  as  were  ordered 
there  from  other  sections  of  the  state, — to  the  brave 
men  who  met  and  successfully  resisted  the  veterans 
of  the  enemy  on  the  banks  of  the  Saranac, — to  those 
who  performed  tedious  and  laborious  services  at  Sac* 


76  APPENDIX. 

kets  Harbor,  and  at  various  other  posts  on  the  west 
ern  frontier, — and  to  that  distinguished  band  of  volun 
teers,  who  under  the  gallant  Porter,  stamped  an  in 
delible  record  of  American  valor  on  the  shores  of 
the  Niagara. 

"The  committee,  therefore,  recommend  the  pas 
sage  of  the  amended  bill  now  reported  by  them,  as  a 
measure,  which,  while  it  makes  a  beneficial  provi 
sion  for  a  numerous  and  highly  meritorious  portion 
of  our  fellow-citizens,  without  detriment  to  the  state, 
will  at  the  same  time,  in  no  inconsiderable  degree, 
conduce  to  the  general  good,  by  a  decisive  expres 
sion  of  our  confidence  in  the  credit  of  the  nation j 
and  will  moreover  furnish  additional  evidence  of  that 
derotion  to  the  interests  of  the  union,  which  it  has 
been  the  ambition  of  this  state  to  evince,  whereby  she 
has  acquired  a  rank  among  her  sister  states,  to  which 
her  exertions  in  the  late  contest  richly  entitle  her, 
and  which  it  should  be  the  pride  and  glory  of  her 
sons  to  maintain.7' 


Extract  from  the  answer  of  the  Senate  to  the  speech 
of  Governor  Tompkins   in  1816,  prepared   by 
Mr.  VAN  BUREN. 
"While  the  Senate  sympathize  with  those  of  their 

fellow-citizens  on  whom  the  sufferings  and  depriva- 


APPENDIX.  77 

tions  incident  to  a  state  of  hostilities  have  fallen  with 
peculiar  force,  they  cannot  too  strongly  express  the 
proud  satisfaction  they  derive  from  the  reflection, 
that  the  war  in  which  the  nation  has  been  involved, 
arduous  and  sanguinary  as  it  has  been,  was  not  only 
righteous  in  its  origin,  and  successful  in  its  prose 
cution,  but  that  our  country  has  arisen  from  the 
contest  with  renovated  strength  and  increased 
glory. 

"Among  the  advantages  which  have  resulted  to 
our  country  from  the  late  war,  your  excellency  has 
justly  referred  to  the  elevation  of  our  national  charac 
ter,  and  to  our  increased  confidence  in  the  efficacy 
and  stability  of  our  political  institutions.  While  the 
former  is  to  the  nation  wealth,  strength,  ond  the 
source  of  happiness,  the  latter  is  the  sheet  anchor  of 
their  hopes,  and  emphatically  the  palladium  of  their 
liberties." 


Speech  of  Mr.  VAN  BUREN,  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  January  28,  1828,  en  the,  bill  for 
granting  pensions  to  the  surviving  officers  of  the 
revolutionary  army. 

Mr.  VAN  BUREN  said  he  approached  the  discus 
sion  of  the  bill  under  consideration  with  a  degree 
of  solicitude  he  had  seldom  experienced.  It  arose 
from  a  deep  consciousness  of  the  importance  and  de- 


78  APPENDIX. 

licacy  of  the  subject,  and  the  difficulties  which  would 
attend  a  satisfactory  determination.  He  freely  con 
fessed  that  he  did  not  remember  a  legislative  question 
in  which  his  feelings  had  been  more  deeply  engaged. 
These  feelings,  sometimes  too  sanguine,  and  always 
ardent,  might  now  deceive  him  ;  but  he  could  not 
suppress  the  conviction,  that,  upon  the  doubtful  issue 
of  the  present  question,  the  character  of  our  country 
•was,  in  no  inconsiderable  degree,  suspended.  It 
would,  indeed,  have  afforded  him  the  highest  grati 
fication,  could  he  anticipate  with  confidence  a  favor 
able  result.  But  when  he  beheld  the  formidable  con 
centration  of  talent,  and  numbers  arrayed  against  the 
petitioners  and  their  advocates,  he  was  but  too  con 
scious  of  the  difficulties  against  which  they  had  to 
contend.  Undeterred,  however,  by  these  circum 
stances,  he  would  proceed  to  discharge  the  duty 
which  seemed  to  be  required  by  his  connexion  with 
the  committee  by  whom  the  bill  had  been  reported. 

His  brethren  of  the  committee,  said  Mr.  V.  B., 
had  pronounced  a  merited  eulogium  upon  the  charac 
ter  and  services  of  the  petitioners.  Considerations 
which  arose  naturally  from  the  subject,  but  upon 
which,  although  far  from  being  exhausted,  he  would 
not  attempt  to  dwell.  Indeed,  lie  was  greatly  de 
ceived,  if,  on  this  point,  there  was  any  diversity  of 
opinion.  Whatever  expressions  might  escape  from 
gentlemen  in  the  warmth  of  debate,  he  was  sure  that 


APPENDIX.  79 

the  transcendent  merits  of  the  petitioners,  after  hav 
ing  received  the  attestation  of  impartial  history, 
were  not  now  to  be  the  subject  of  examination  or  of 
doubt.  Sir,  if,  in  the  mysterious  dispensations  of  an 
all-wise  and  over-ruling  Providence,  we,  too,  are 
doomed  to  experience  the  common  calamities  of  na 
tions,  it  may  become  our  duty  to  receive  these  dis 
pensations  with  meekness,  and  bear  them  with  for 
titude.  But  if  there  be  a  stain  from  which  he  would 
be  most  desirous  of  rescuing  the  American  name,  it 
would  be  a  stain  of  ingratitude  to  the  surviving  offi 
cers  of  the  revolution.  If  there  be  a  calamity  which, 
more  than  any  other,  he  would  pray  to  have  averted, 
it  would  be  the  calamity  of  witnessing,  in  an  Ameri 
can  Senate,  a  cold  insensibility  to  the  services  of 
those  whose  devotion  to  their  country  in  peace,  and 
whose  constancy  in  war,  had  extorted  the  applause 
of  an  admiring  world. 

If,  sir,  gallantry  in  the  field,  and  devotion  to  coun 
try,  ever  deserved  the  meed  of  grateful  remembrance, 
the  encomiums  bestowed  by  my  colleagues  upon  the 
revolutionary  officers  will  find  their  approval  in 
every  patriot  bosom.  But  their  merits,  great  as 
they  were,  appear  to  be  enhanced  by  the  cause  in 
which  they  were  engaged.  Revolutions  in  govern 
ment  had  been  witnessed  before,  and  they  have  been 
witnessed  since.  But  if  we  consider  the  principles 
involved,  the  means  employed,  and  the  results  pro- 


8O  APPENDIX. 

duced,  may  I  not  be  indulged  in  expressing  the  convic 
tion  that  they  dwindle  into  insignificance  with  this. 
The  Revolution  in  which  they  embarked,  was  not 
only  the  most  important,  in  civil  government,  that 
oppression  has  produced  or  patriotism  accomplished, 
but  must,  in  the  nature  of  things,  for  ever  remain  so. 
The  materials  for  another  equally  important,  do  not, 
I  fear,  exist ;  and,  perhaps,  the  progressive  character 
of  man  precludes  a  well-grounded  hope  that  they  will 
ever  again  arise.  Why,  sir,  said  he,  do  I  allude  to 
these  high  considerations?  Not,  I  am  sure,  for  the 
purpose  of  display  ;  and  as  little  with  a  view  to  in 
dulge  in  self  adulation.  It  is  because  the  unparalleled 
blessings,  which,  as  a  people,  we  enjoy  ;  the  great 
and  successful  example  that  has  been  given  to  the 
world  ;  and  the  perpetual  influence  which  that  ex 
ample  must  exert  in  its  future  destinies — awaken  in 
every  mind  the  most  intense  anxiety,  lest  the  closing 
scenes  of  that  mighty  conflict  should  be  unworthy  of 
its  own  great  character— and  that  the  page  of  history 
which  embalms  the  virtue  and  heroic  deeds  of  our 
fathers,  may  not  at  the  same  time  record  the  too  ear 
ly  degeneracy  of  their  sons.  The  petitioners  at  your 
bar  are  destined  to  be  our  witnesses  with  posterity. 
It  is  in  their  persons  that  an  opportunity  is  afforded, 
either  to  repel,  or  in  some  degree,  confirm  the  impu 
tation  cast  upon  Republics  by  the  enemies  of  freedom, 
that  ingratitude  is  their  inherent  and  inextinguisha- 


APPENDIX.  81 

ble  vice:  and  it  was  earnestly  to  be  hoped  that  our 
decision  might  be  such  as  would  be  favorable  to  them, 
to  ourselves,  and  to  the  cause  of  liberty. 

But,  sir,  said  Mr.  V.  B  ,  instead  of  pursuing  these 
general  remarks,  allow  me  to  invite  your  attention 
to  the  question  immediately  under  consideration. — 
In  doing  go,  my  first  attempt  will  be  to  separate  that 
which  is  not  a  subject  of  disputation  from  that  which 
is:  for  in  this,  as  in  other  cases,  time  may  be  con 
sumed,  and  arguments  fruitlessly  employed,  in  sup 
porting  positions  which  have  never  been  questioned, 
or  enforcing  opinions  in  which  all  are  agreed. 

First,  then,  it  will  be  admitted,  on  all  sides,  that 
the  promise  made  by  the  Congress  of  the  Confedera 
tion  of  half  pay  for  life  to  the  Revolutionary  officers 
serving  to  the  end  of  the  war,  was  made  by  compe 
tent  authority:  that  the  condition  upon  which  the 
promise  was  founded  has  been  fully  performed:  that 
the  obligation  thereby  created  rests  upon  the  present 
Government  in  its  original  force:  and  that  if  it  has 
not  been  fully,  fairly,  and  justly  performed,  it  ought 
now  to  be  discharged.  The  critical  condition  of  the 
country  at  the  time  the  promise  was  made — the  fact 
that  this  inducement  to  remain  in  service  had  been 
held  up  to  the  Army  from  the  commencement  of  the 
war,  by  various  resolves  of  Congress — that  this  alone 
prevented  their  abandonment  of  a  service,  in  which 
they  were  not  bond  to  remain  by  any  of  those  con- 


82  APPENDIX. 

siderations  which  operate  on  the  generality  of  man 
kind — that  to  their  continuance  in  the  Army,  more 
than  to  any  other  cause,  under  the  blessings  of  Pro 
vidence,  the  successful  termination  of  the  war  was,  in 
the  opinion  of  Gen.  Washington,  mainly  attributable, 
and  that  the  sacrifices  which  they  incurred,  in  conse 
quence  of  their  determination  to  remain,  were  almost 
unparalleled — are  points  upon  which  there  can  be  no 
difference  of  opinion,  and  requiring,  after  the  able 
comments  of  the  Senators  who  had  preceded  him,  no 
additional  illustration. 

If  this,  sir,  said  Mr.  V.  B.,  has  been  the  unques 
tionable  engagement  of  the  Government,  if  the  peti 
tioners  are  thus  entitled  to  its  fulfilment  by  the  per 
formance  of  the  sole  condition  on  which  it  was  made 
to  depend — the  question  will  be  asked,  has  that  en 
gagement  been  satisfied?  And  if  satisfied,  how  has 
it  been^one? 

Those  who  maintain  that  the  Government  had  ful 
filled  its  engagement,  rest  their  position  on  the  ground 
of  the  commutation  of  the  five  years'  full  pay,  which 
has  been  given  in  lieu  of  the  promised  half-pay  for 
life.  Whatever  might  be  the  diversity  of  sentiment 
with  respect  to  the  legality  or  the  fairness  of  that 
commutation — the  means  by  which  it  was  effected — 
and  the  manner  of  its  execution — and  on  these  points 
he  acknowledged  there  was  room  for  an  honest  differ 
ence  of  opinion:  there  was  one  position,  he  thought 


APPENDIX.  8$ 

sufficiently  plain  to  challenge  the  acquiescence  of  eve 
ry  reflecting  mind.  It  is,  sir,  that  this  commutation 
tendered  by  the  Government  as  a  complete  fulfilment 
of  its  promise,  has  been  any  thing  but  a  fair  and  just 
equivalent.  To  demonstrate  this,  a  few  observations 
only  will  be  necessary. 

The  intelligent  Chairman  of  the  Committee,  who 
reported  the  bill,  whose  ability  in  the  exhibition  of 
the  claims  of  the  petitioners  would  entitle  him  to 
more  than  the  humble  tribute  of  respect,  which  it 
was  in  his  power  to  render,  had  submitted  to  the  Sen 
ate  statements  and  calculations  establishing  the  fol 
lowing  results: 

1.  That,  according  to  authentic  tables  for  the  com 
putation  of  annuities,  the  Jive,  years'  half-pay,  ought 
to  have  been  seve?i,  at  the  time  it  was  given,  in  order 
to  make  it  a  fair  equivalent,  and   that  the  reduction 
of  this  just  allowance  was  attributable  to  the  necessi 
ties  of  the  Government,  and  not  to   a  disposition  to 
elude  the  claims  of  the  petitioners. 

2.  That,  owing  to  the  failure  of  the  States  to  sup 
ply  the  funds  necessary  to  the  payment  of  the  inter 
est,  and  ultimate  redemption  of  the  principal,  of  the 
"commutation  certificates;"  these  commutation  cer 
tificates  for  five  years'  full  pay,  given  as  an  equiva 
lent  for  half-pay  for  life,  rapidly  depreciated.     So 
that,  when  compelled  by  necessity  to  dispose  of  them, 


84  APPENDIX. 

the}7  in  fact  produced  to  the  officers  less  than  one 
year's  pay. 

3.  That  when  these  commutation  certificates  were 
funded  in  1791,  a  deduction  was  made  equal  to  one 
third  of  their  amount,  by  deferring  the  interest  for 
ten  years,  upon  one-third  of  the  principal,  and  allow 
ing  only  three  per  centum  on  the  interest  which  had 
accrued  since  1783. 

That  this  deduction  was  made  by  the  Govern 
ment,  on  the  ground  (and  could  be  justified  on  no 
other,)  that  these  certificates  were  in  the  hands  of 
speculators,  who  had  availed  themselves  of  the  neces 
sities  of  the  officers,  brought  upon  them  by  their  sti 
pulated  continuance  in  service,  and  thus  were  ena 
bled  to  obtain  them  at  a  reduced  and  almost  nominal 
price. 

Mr.  V.  B.  said  he  would  refrain  from  attempting 
to  enforce  the  views,  upon  this  branch  of  the  subject, 
presented  by  the  Senators  who  had  preceded  him. 
It  would  be  time  enough  to  do  so,  should  these  views 
be  ever  contested.  He  candidly  acknowledged, 
however,  that  they  did  not  constitute  the  material 
arguments  upon  which  he  relied,  for  the  purpose  of 
showing  the  gross  inadequacy  of  the  commutation 
awarded  to  the  petitioners:  and  he  would  therefore 
proceed  to  state  the  grounds  upon  which  he  predica 
ted  his  proposition,  with  all  the  brevity  and  perspi 
cuity  in  his  power. 


APPENDIX.  85 

The  -certificates  for  commutation  of  half  pay,  were 
issued  under  the  resolution  of  March,  17S3,  and  de 
livered  in  November,  1783.  They  admitted,  upon 
their  face,  that  five  years'  full  pay  was  due  to  their 
holders,  to  be  paid  with  interest  at  the  rate  of  six  per 
centum  per  annum.  These  certificates  were  redeem 
ed  by  the  operation  of  the  funding  act  in  1791.  They 
were,  of  course,  for  different  amounts,  according  to 
the  respective  ranks  of  the  officers.  The  average  pay 
of  the  officers  was  $30  per  month,  and  the  amount 
which  would  have  been  due  to  each  officer  for  half 
pay,  allowing  interest  after  the  same  was  acknow 
ledged  to  be  due,  would  have  amounted  in  1791, 
when  the  redemption  took  place,  to  $1,742  40, — 
The  average  amount  of  five  years'  full  pay  for  each 
officer,  amounted  with  interest,  in  1791,  to  $2,664  00; 
from  this  amount  one-third  was  deducted  in  the  re 
demption,  as  he  had  before  stated.  The  average 
amount  therefore  received  by  each  officer  in  1791, 
for  his  five  37 ears  full  pay,  assuming  that  these  cer 
tificates  had  been  retained,  would  have  been  $1,776. 

From  this  simple  statement  it  results  that,  in  con 
sequence  of  the  delay  in  discharging  the  commuta 
tion,  and  the  deduction  which  was  forcibly  made  in 
doing  so,  the  Government  paid  no  more  than  would 
have  been  due  to  the  officers  for  their  half  pay  alone, 
up  to  the  period  when  the  commutation  was  actually 

made.     To  that  period,  therefore,  the  officers  gained 
8 


$6  APPENDIX. 

nothing  by  that  measure.  Since  that  time  years 
have  rolled  away,  during  which  they  would  have  re 
ceived  the  promised  half  pay,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
commutation.  The  sum  which  would  have  been 
payable  to  the  officers  since  that  period,  is  the  sum 
precisely  which  the  officers  have  lost,  and  the  Gov 
ernment  has  gained,  by  this  variation  by  the  Govern 
ment  from  its  original  contract. 

This  subject,  said  Mr.  V.  B.  is  simple,  founded 
upon  data  which  cannot  deceive  by  their  plausibility, 
and  is  liable  to  no  mistake,  except  the  mere  errors  of 
calculation.  Those  he  had  endeavored  to  avoid. — 
The  average  half  pay  of  each  of  the  petitioners  from 
the  year  1791  to  1S2S,  would  have  amounted  to 
$13,177  83.  This  sum,  multiplied  by  230,  thenum-. 
ber  of  Revolutionary  olllcers  supposed  to  be  yet  in 
existence,  would  amount  to  $3,030,710.  The  effect 
of  the  commutation  upon  the  Treasury,  and  upon  the 
interests  of  deceased  officers,  could  not  be,  said  he, 
distinctly  stated  without  a  particular  knowledge  of 
the  time  of  their  respective  deaths.  But  from  what 
we  know  upon  that  subject,  there  was  a  moral  cer 
tainty  that  the  gains  of  the  Treasury  from  that  source 
had  not  been  diminished,  but  on  the  contrary  greatly 
increased. 

It  is,  then,  said  he,  an  ascertained  and  incontesti- 
ble  fact,  that  in  addition  to  all  the  injuries  sustained 
by  depreciation,  the  officers  have  lost  by  the  course 


APPENDIX.  87 

of  events,  and  the  Government  has  gained  a  sum  not 
less  than  $3,030,710,  in  consequence  of  that  com 
mutation  which  is  now  set  up  to  bar  the  claims  of 
the  petitioners — claims  predicated  upon  a  promise  of 
the  Government,  held  out  to  the  officers  as  an  induce 
ment  to  remain,  and  constituting  the  chief  reward  for 
the  most  signal  services  ever  performed  by  men  in 
the  cause  of  freedom  and  their  country. 

Upon  these  facts,  said  Mr.  V.  B.,  a  question  arises 
for  our  decision,   no  less  important  to  the  Govern 
ment  than  to  the  petitioners  ;  because,  involving  the 
character  of  the  one,  and  the  interests  of  the  other. 
What  is  it  ?     Is  it  confined  to  the  legal  rights  and 
obligations  of  the  parties  ?     No,  sir,  I  shall  never, 
said  he,  bring  my  mind  to  consider  the  question  of 
strict  legal  right,  when  I  look  at  the  parties.     Who 
are  they  ?     On  the  one  hand,  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  not  liable  to  be  impleaded,  and  inca 
pable  of  being  coerced  against  its  will  by  any  power 
superior  to  its  own — rich  in  resources,  and  overflow 
ing  with  redundance  ;  on  the  other  a  remnant  of  the 
officers  of  the  revolutionary  army,    borne  down  by 
the  infirmities  incident  to  age— with  one  foot  in  the 
grave,  and  the  other  upon  the  theshold  of  your  door, 
supplicating  the  fulfilment  of  that  promise  which  was 
made  them  in  the  vigor  of  their  days.     If  even  they 
have  legal  rights,  where  is  their  remedy  to  enforce 
them       They  cannot  in  the  nature  of  things  hays 


$S  APPENDIX. 

any.  But  candor  constrained  him  to  acknowledge, 
that  in  strictness,  they  have  not  now,  whatever  they 
may  once  have  had,  any  rights,  except  such  as  are 
founded  upon  the  immutable  principles  of  justice. — 
As  early  as  the  year  1785,  the  Government  found  it 
necessary  to  protect  itself  against  dormant  and  un 
founded  claims,  arising  from  the  revolutionary  con 
test,  by  a  statute  of  limitations.  Various  acts  and 
resolutions  were  passed  upon  the  subject  before  the 
year  1793,  more  or  less  comprehensive  in  their  terms; 
and  in  that  year  an  act  was  passed  so  comprehensive 
in  its  provisions,  as  to  embrace  the  claims  of  the  pe 
titioners,  and  barring  them,  unless  presented  by  the 
1st  day  of  May,  1794.  The  officers  did  not  presen 
this  claim  until  1810,  and  are  therefore  precluded 
from  urging  their  vested  legal  rights.  Being  thus 
furnished  with  a  general  answer  to  all  claims  which 
do  not  address  both  our  consciences  and  judgments, 
Congress  have  nevertheless  relaxed,  from  time  to 
time,  the  rigor  of  their  own  act,  when  considering 
claims  founded  on  justice,  and  not  opposed  by  policy. 
But  as  none  of  these  suspensions  have  embraced  the 
case  of  the  petitioners,  we  have  it  in  our  power,  if 
we  can  have  the  heart  to  present  this  statute  of  limi 
tations  to  the  petitioners,  and  under  its  mantle,  resist 
the  cry  for  justice,  if  not  for  bread.  The  question, 
then,  is  not  what  we  are  bound  to  do  by  law,  but 
what  we  should  do.  What  conduct  on  our  part  will 


APPENDIT.  89 

bear  the  scrutiny  and  the  judgments  of  impartial 
men,  when  the  opportunity  to  remedy  the  conse 
quences  of  our  decision  shall  have  passed  away  ? 

Let  us  look,  for  a  moment,  said  Mr.  V.  B.,  at  the 
arguments  advanced  by  the  opponents  of  the  bill 
The  meritorious  services  of  the  petitioners,  the  signal 
advantages  that  have  resulted  from  these  services  to 
us  and  to  posterity ;  the  losses  sustained  by  the  pe 
titioners,  and  the  consequent  advantages  derived  by 
the  government  from  the  act  of  commutation,  are 
unequivocally  admitted.  But,  it  is  contended,  we 
have  made  a  compromise  legally  binding  on  the  par 
ties,  and  exonerating  the  government,  from  further 
liability,  that  in  an  evil  and  unguarded  hour,  they 
have  given  us  a  release,  and  we  stand  upon  our  bond. 
Now  the  question  which  he  wished  to  address  to  the 
conscience,  and  the  judgments  of  this  honorable  body, 
was  this — not  whether  this  issue  was  well  taken  in 
point  of  law — not  whether  we  might  not  hope  for  a  safe 
deliverance  under  it — but  whether  the  issue  ought  to 
be  taken  at  all — whether  it  comports  with  the  honor 
of  the  Government  to  plead  a  legal  exemption  against 
the  claims  of  gratitude — whether,  in  other  words,  the 
government  be  bound  at  all  times  to  insist  upon  its 
strict  legal  rights.  Has  this  been  the  practice  of  the 
government  on  all  former  occasions?  Or,  is  this  the 
only  question  on  which  this  principle  should  operate? 
Nothing,  said  Mr.  V.  B.  can  be  easier  than  to  show 
8* 


90  APPENDIX. 

that  the  uniform  practice  of  the  Government  has  been 
at  war  with  the  principle  which  is  now  opposed  to 
the  claim  of  the  petitioners.  Not  a  sesssion  had  oc 
curred  since  the  commencement  of  this  government, 
in  which  Congress  had  not  relieved  the  citizens  from 
hardships  resulting  from  unforeseen  contingencies — 
and  foreborne  an  enforcement  of  law,  when  its  en 
forcement  would  work  great  and  undeserved  injury. 
He  might,  if  excusable  on  an  occasion  like  this,  turn 
over  the  statute  book,  page  by  page,  and  give  re 
peated  proofs  of  this  assertion.  But  it  is  unnecessary, 
He  would  content  himself  wi'h  a  reference  to  one  or 
at  most  two  measures  of  the  character  described.  In 
the  year  1812,  between  the  months  of  June  and  Sep 
tember,  goods  to  an  immense  amount  were  shipped 
Jrom  England  to  the  United  Slates,  by  American 
merchants,  in  open  violation  of  the  acts  prohibiting 
their  importation.  They  alleged  in  justification,  ci 
ther  their  anticipated  repeal  of  these  acts,  in  conse- 
vquence  of  the  measures  of  one  of  the  belligerents  ;  or 
their  apprehension  that  in  the  event  of  a  declaration 
of  war  by  the  United  States,  their  property  would  be 
seized  and  condemned  in  the  British  ports.  The  de 
claration,  in  fact,  took  place  ;  but  the  importers  were 
not  the  less  liable  to  the  fines  and  penalties  imposed 
by  a  violated  law,  and  merchandise  to  the  value  of 
more  than  twenty  millions  of  dollars  was  forfeited 
to  the  United  States.  Upon  the  arrival  of  the  goods, 


APPENDIX.  91 

the  owners  were  permitted  to  retain  and  use  them, 
upon  giving  bonds  to  abide  the  decision  of  their  Go 
vernment  Application  was  made  to  Congress  for 
relief:  and  although  it  was  well  known  that  immense 
profits  were  made  upon  their  importation,  and  not  a 
doubt  existed  of  their  liability  to  forfeiture,  Congress, 
by  an  act  which  fills  but  a  single  page  upon  that  sta 
tute  book,  cancelled  the  bonds  and  relinquished  mer 
chandise,  which,  if  retained,  would  have  been  equal 
in  value  to  one-fourth  of  the  whole  expenses  of  the 
war,  and  which  would  doubtless  have  been  retained 
had  the  Government  insisted  upon  its  legal  rights, 
and  acted  on  the  principle  now  contended  for. 

The  system  which  has  been  pursued  in  relation  to 
the  purchasers  of  public  lands,  is  not  a  less  memora 
ble  example  of  a  departure  from  that  rigorous  policy 
now  recommended  to  our  imitation. 

By  the  act  of  10th  May,  1SOO,  the  minimum  price 
of  the  public  lands  was  fixed  at  $2  the  acre  ;  one- 
twentieth  of  the  purchase  money  was  required  to  be 
paid  at  the  time  of  the  purchase,  one-fourth  in  40 
days  ;  the  balance,  with  interest,  was  payable  by  in 
stalments  of  2,  3,  and  4  years  ;  and  the  forfeiture  of 
the  land  was  the  declared  penalty  of  non-payment. 

By  the  act  of  the  26th  March,  1S04,  no  interest 
.was  to  be  charged  upon  instalments  for  future  pur 
chases,  if  punctually  paid,  and  this  provision,  in  fa 
vor  of  the  purchaser,  was  extended  to  those  whose 


92  APPENDIX. 

instalments  should  become  due  before  the  following 
October. 

Under  this  liberal  system,  yielding  to  the  Govern 
ment  but  little  more  than  the  necessary  expenses  of 
surveying  the  lands,  supporting  the  various  land  of 
fices,  and  providing  for  the  holder  a  secure  landed 
title,  a  debt  accumulated  prior  to  the  year  1820,  from 
the  purchasers  of  the  United  States,  amounting  to 
twenty-two  millions  of  dollars. 

Before  that  time  repeated  indulgencies  had  been 
granted,  extending  the  times  of  payment,  preventing 
the  forfeitures  which  would  have  accrued,  and  in  nu 
merous  instances,  allowing  a  re-entry,  or  a  new  pur 
chase  of  lands,  improved,  and  forfeited  to  the  Gov 
ernment  upon  the  terms  of  the  original  purchase.  No 
less  than  six  acts  were  passed  from  the  year  1813 
to  1820,  to  suspend  the  forfeiture,  and  sale  of  the 
lands  thus  purchased.  The  evil,  however,  had  swel 
led  beyond  the  reach  of  palliatives.  A  debt  of  22 
millions  of  dollars  exceeded  the  ability,  blighted  the 
prospects,  and  deadened  the  energies  of  the  States  by 
whom  it  was  due.  Had  the  law  been  enforced  and 
payment  inflexibly  exacted,  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
lands  thus  purchased  and  improved,  would  have  been 
forfeited  to  the  Union,  and  many  an  honest  yeoman 
would  have  been  compelled  to  relinquish  to  more  for 
tunate  strangers  those  woods  and  lawns  which  he 
vainly  hoped  would  be  the  solace  of  his  declining 


APPENDIX,  93 

years.  To  prevent  this  calamity,  the  Government 
interposed,  and  by  an  act  of  liberality  having  few  pa 
rallels  in  history,  arrested  the  forfeitures;  authorized 
the  relinqiiishment  of  lands  for  which  the  purchasers 
were  unable  to  pay;  and  the  application  of  whatever 
sums  had  been  paid  to  the  payment  of  so  much  only 
as  they  thought  proper  to  retain;  cancelled  the  accu 
mulated  interest;  extended  the  term  of  credit  for  that 
portion  of  the  lands  retained;  and  by  a  subsequent 
act  passed  in  1S24,  consented  to  receive  as  a  full  pay • 
ment  for  these  lands,  less  than  two-thirds  of  the 
amount  actually  due.  Nor  was  this  all:  by  the  act  of 
1821,  the  price  of  the  lands  was  reduced  from  two 
dollars  to  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents;  and  he 
who  had  surrendered  lands  purchased  at  the  highest 
sum  was  enabled  to  re-enter  the  same  lands,  if  not 
sold  at  public  sale,  at  the  reduced  price.  Sir,  said 
Mr.  V.  B.,  by  the  best  estimate  that  I  am  able  to 
make  on  referring  to  the  only  documents  within  my 
reach,  this  donation  to  the  purchasers  of  public  lands 
could  not  have  been  less  than  seven  millions  and  a 
half  and  probably  has  not  been  short  of  ten  millions 
of  dollars.  But  the  exact  amount  is  not  material  to 
the  elucidation  of  the  principle  from  which  it  flowed; 
and  in  considering  its  value,  who,  that  can  cast  his  eyes 
upon  those  extensive  regions  where  tranquillity  has 
succeeded  to  disquietude,  and  prosperity  to  ruin,  will 
attempt  to  estimate  it  by  the  scale  of  dollars  and  cents? 


94  APPENDIX. 

It  appears,  then,  said  Mr.  V.  B.,  that  it  has  not 
been  the  practice  of  the  Government  to  act  the  part 
of  Shylock  with  its  citizens ;  and  God  forbid  that  it 
should  make  its  debut,  on  the  present  occasion,  not 
so  much  in  the  character  of  a  merciless  creditor,  as  a 
reluctant,  though  wealthy,  debtor ;  withholding  the 
merited  pittance  from  those  to  whose  noble  daring 
and  unrivalled  fortitude,  we  are  indebted  for  the  pri 
vilege  of  sitting  in  judgment  on  their  claims ;  and 
manifesting  more  sensibility  for  the  purchasers  of  our 
lands  than  for  those  by  whose  bravery  they  were  won; 
and,  but  for  whose  achievments,  these  very  purcha 
sers,  instead  of  being  the  proprietors  of  their  soil, 
and  the  citizens  of  free  and  sovereign  States,  might 
now  be  the  miserable  vassals  of  some  worthless  favor 
ite  of  arbitrary  power. 

If  disposed  to  be  less  liberal  to  the  Revolutionary 
officers  than  to  other  classes  of  the  community,  Ijt  us 
at  least  testify  our  gratitude  by  relieving  their  suffer 
ings,  and  returning  a  portion  of  those  immense  gains 
which  have  been  the  glorious  fruits  of  their  toil,  and 
of  their  blood. 

Such,  said  Mr.  V.  B.,  would  in  his  judgment  be  a 
correct  view  of  the  subject,  had  the  Government  re 
lieved  itself  from  all  further  liability  by  the  most 
ample  and  unexceptionable  peformance  of  its  stipu 
lations.  How  much  stronger,  then,  will  be  their 
appeal  to  your  justice,  if  it  can  be  shown  that  you 


APPENDIX.  95 

have  no  right  to  urge  this  act  of  commutation  as  a 
complete  fulfilment  of  your  promise?  The  act  of 
commutation  is  impeached  by  the  petitioners — first, 
on  account  of  the  means  by  which  it  was  affected; 
and  secondly,  because  the  stipulations  of  that  act  have 
never  been  fulfilled. 

The  petitioners  with  reason  complained  that  with 
out  ever,  having  consented  to  be  bound  by  the  acts 
of  their  brother  officers,  their  personal  rights  were 
made  to  depend  upon  the  decision  of  the  lines,  and 
not  upon  their  own  individual  assent.  This  is  ad 
mitted  tcr  have  been  the  fact.  Two  months  were  ad- 
lowed  to  the  officers  of  the  lines,  under  the  immedi 
ate  command  of  Gen.  Washington,  and  six  months 
to  those  of  the  Southern  army,  to  give  their  assent 
to  the  compromise.  It  does  not  appear  that  the  lines 
of  the  Southern  army  ever  gave  their  assent.  In 
deed  it  is  stated  by  a  distinguished  Revolutionary  of 
ficer  on  this  floor,  (Gen.  S.  SMITH,)  that  they  never 
did.  It  does  not  appear  that  there  ever  was  a  meet 
ing  of  the  officers  of  the  Northern  army,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  deciding  upon  the  question:  and  it  is  affirmed 
that  there  was  none.  To  assume,  then,  that  the  as 
sent  of  each  individual  was  given  under  circumstances 
like  these,  appears  to  my  mind  harsh  and  unjust. — 
But  it  is  alleged,  in  extenuation,  that  the  compro 
mise  was  made  upon  the  petition  of  the  officers  them 
selves.  Let  this  be  admitted:  did  the  application 


96  APPENDIX. 

for  a  just  equivalent  for  the  promised  half  pay  for 
life,  confer  on  Congress  the  right  to  prescribe  the 
terms?  Will  it  justify  the  allowance  of  less  than 
that  to  which  they  were  entitled?  Will  not  the  cir 
cumstances,  under  which  this  application  was  made, 
present  a  still  stronger  appeal  to  your  liberality,  if 
not  your  gratitude?  Look,  said'Mr.  V.  B.,  at  the 
acts  of  these  brave  and  high-minded  men,  in  what 
ever  light  you  please ;  examine  their  conduct  by  the 
strictest  scrutiny,  and  you  will  always  find  them  ex 
hibiting  the  purest  principles  and  the  most  elevated 
patriotism.  The  half  pay  establishment  for  life,  was, 
at  that  time,  considered  by  the  ardent  advocates  for 
liberty,  as  leading  to  the  formation  of  an  aristocratic 
body,  and  therefore  subversive  of  the  principles  of 
the  revolution.  An  intimation  like  this,  in  the  infan 
cy  of  our  institutions,  however  groundless  in  itself, 
was  sufficient  to  excite  alarm.  The  dangers  of  the 
past  were  overlooked  in  the  apprehension  for  the  fu 
ture;  the  measure  was  reprobated,  and  these  merito 
rious  officers  became  the  objects  of  unfounded  jeal 
ousy.  To  quiet  these  unreasonable  fears,  the  petition 
ers  expressed  their  willingness  to  waive  the  literal 
iulfilment  of  the  promise  which  had  been  given:  to 
remove  the  cause  which  could  have  a  tendency  to  de 
prive  them  of  the  confidence  of  their  fellow-citizens: 
to  surrender  the  boon  they'had  so  dearly  purchased; 
and,  in  addition  to  all  that  they  had  done,  and  to  all 


APPENDIX:.  97 

that  they  had  suffered,  to  offer  up  their  future  pros 
pects  upon  the  altar  of  their  country.  And  could 
any  thing  be  more  preposterous  than  to  attempt  to 
found  upon  an  act,  originating  in  motives  like  these, 
the  right  to  prescribe  the  terms  of  commutation  ? — • 
But  it  is  alleged  that  the  officer  received  the  com 
mutation  certificates,  and,  by  doing  so,  must  be  pre 
sumed  to  have  assented  to  their  being  considered  a 
full  satisfaction  of  their  demands.  This  inference 
was,  in  his  opinion,  removed  by  the  peculiar  circum 
stances  under  which  the  certificates  were  given. — 
These  circumstances,  said  Mr.  V.  B.  are  not  unwor 
thy  of  the  deliberate  attention  of  the  Senate.  Pre 
vious  to  October,  1783,  and  subsequent  to  the  time 
when  the  signature  of  the  preliminary  articles  of 
peace  was  known  to  the  army,  frequent  applications 
had  been  made  in  their  behalf,  to  Congress,  for  an 
adjustment  of  accounts,  and  payment  of  the  large  ar 
rearages  which  were  due.  These  applications  were 
fruitless.  The  failure  of  the  states  to  comply  witfi 
the  requisitions  of  Congress,  deprived  that  body  c^the 
meansofdiscbargingtheirengagements:  andwirfiafull 
sense  of  the  services  and  privations  of  the  army,  and 
of  the  injustice  they  were  about  to  commit.  Congress 
were  on  the  point  of  disbanding  them,  unpaid  and 
unrequited,  and  sending  them  pennyless  and  almost 
naked  to  their  homes.  The  effect  of  this  anticipated 
measure  upon  minds  sensibly  alive  to  indignity  and 
9 


98  APPEtfDIX. 

injury  may   be   easily  imagined: — At  the  moment 
when  passion  might  have  triumphed  over  reason,  the 
army  was  addressed  by  an  anonymous  writer,  on  the 
subject  of  their  wrongs,  with  a  degree  of  eloquence 
calculated  to  redeem,  if  any  thing  could  redeem,  the 
vicious  tendency  of  his  principles.     He  admonished 
them  of  the  futility  of  their  complaints,  and  urged 
them,  by  every  motive   that  could  be  addressed   to 
their  hopes  and  to  their  fears,  to  change  the  suppli 
catory  style  of  a  memorial  to  language  more  becom 
ing  those  who  had  the  means  of  redress  within  their 
hands.     At  that  perilous  moment,  on   the  events  of 
which  were  suspended  the  honor  of  the  army  and  the 
future  welfare  of  the  country,   their  commander-in- 
chief  appeared  amongst  them.      He  conjured  them  to 
give  one  more  distinguished   proof  of  unexampled 
patriotism,  patience   and  virtue;  to   rise  superior  to 
the  most  complicated  sufferings,  and  by  the  dignity 
of  their  conduct,  give  posterity  occasion  to  say,  when 
speaking  of  their  glorious  example — "  Had  this  day 
been  wanting,  the  world   had   never  seen  the  last 
stage  of  perfection,  which  human  nature  is  capable  of 
attaining.77 

They  listened  to  the  voice  of  their  beloved  com 
mander,  followed  his  advice,  surrendered  their  arms 
— and  sunk,  pennyless,  into  the  ranks  of  private  life. 
In  the  succeeding  month,  the  certificates  of  commu 
tation  were  tendered,  by  the  pay-master  general, 


APPENDIX.  99 

who  requested  only  an  acknowledgment  of  their  re 
ceipt,  while  in  relation  to  the  final  settlement  certi 
ficates  for  their  pay,  he  required  a  full  discharge  of 
their  demands.  The  certificates  thus  tendered,  were 
accepted  and  in  almost  every  case,  immediately  sold, 
for  the  purpose  of  satisfying  the  most  urgent  necessi 
ties  of  nature.  He  asked  the  Senate  whether  it  would 
comport  with  the  dignity  and  honor  of  a  great  and 
magnanimous  people  to  avail  themselves  of  an  accep 
tance  extorted  by  circumstances  like  these  ;  and  to 
urge  it  as  sufficient  to  bar  the  claims  of  justice,  and 
divest  their  protectors  in  the  hour  of  danger,  of  their 
stipulated  reward  ? 

But  it  has  been  said,  that  this  commutation  excited 
no  dissatisfaction  at  the  time ;  that  the  complaints  up 
on  the  subject,  are  of  recent  date,  and  now,  for  the 
first  time,  thought  of  as  a  plausible  support  to  an  un 
founded  claim.  The  Senator  from  S.  C.  [Mr.  SMITH,] 
who  has  been  impelled,  by  a  sense  of  duty,  to  assume 
the  unpleasant  task  of  zealously  opposing  the  bill  up 
on  your  table,  has  enquired  with  much  apparent  tri 
umph,  whether  a  single  individual  could  be  pointed 
out  who  had  refused  the  commutation  ?  He  assured 
the  worthy  Senator  that  he  had  adopted  an  erroneous 
impression.  When  tendered,  it  was  received  with  uni 
versal  discontent,  and  by  the  junior  officers,  who  were 
most  likely  to  be  injure-d,  with  decided  reprobation. 
Had  an  opportunity  for  inquiry  been  allowed,  he  ha4 


100  APPENDIX; 

no  doubt  of  being  able  to  designate  many  who  had  re 
fused.  At  the  moment  he  could  refer  the  Senator  to 
Major  Gadsden  of  his  own  State,  w,hose  petition  on 
the  subject  has  been  presented  to  the  Senate ;  and  if 
respect  for  the  feelings  of  an  honorable  member  be 
fore  him,  did  not  render  it  improper  to  drag  the  name 
of  his  venerable  father  into  the  debate,  he  could  name 
another  veteran  soldier  of  the  Revolution,*  the  con 
fident  of  Washington  and  the  companion  of  Lafayette, 
who  had  served  his  country  bravely  and  efficiently 
throughout  the  war,  and  who  refused  to  receive  the 
commutation,  because  violating,  in  his  opinion,  the 
leading  principles  of  the  Revolution,  by  subjecting 
his  property  to  the  decision  of  men  whom  he  had 
never  authorised  to  act  in  his  name  or  stead.  But, 
sir,  said,  Mr.  V.  B.,  what  effect  did  the  supposed 
injustice  of  his  country  have  on  this  veteran  soldier  ? 
Did  it  in  the  least  damp  his  ardor  in  her  cause  ?  By 
no  means.  He  belonged  to  a  different  school,  and 
he  gave  the  most  palpable  proof  of  the  enduring  qual 
ity  of  the  principle  of  that  school  during  the  late  war. 
On  learning  the  approach  of  danger  he  repaired  to 
this  city.  On  the  disastrous  clay  of  Rladeusbiwgh) 
he  was  found,  at  the  advanced  age  of  seventy,  en 
horseback  in  the  field,  stimulating  to  exertions,  by 
his  example  and  exhortation.  When  the  danger 
pressed  the  hardest  he  waited  on  the  military  com- 

*  Col.  McLane,  of  Delaware. 


APPENDIX.  101 

mancler  of  the  day,  and  solicited  the  responsibility 
for  the  safety  of  the  City,  by  being  entrusted  with  the 
possession  of  this  capitol,  with  a  reasonable  force  for 
its  defence.  Denied  in  his  application,  mortified  and 
humiliated  by  the  results  of  the  day,  he  found  his 
way  back  to  his  home  and  the  home  of  his  family, 
where  he  still  lives,  blessed  with  the  esteem  of  his 
friends,  and  the  respect  of  all  who  know  him. 

But  assuming,  said  Mr.  V.  B.  that  the  act  of  com^ 
mutationwas  just,  in  its  inception,  was  it  Justin  its 
execution  ?  On  this  point,  he  thought  there  was  no 
room  for  contrariety  of  opinion.  An  essential  differ 
ence,  he  observed,  existed  between  the  claims  for 
pay  and  subsistence  of  the  army,  and  those  arising 
from  the  stipulation  of  half-pay  for  life.  The  former 
being  payable  during  the  war,  when  it  was  known 
that  the  finances  were  embarrassed,  were  properly 
subject  to  the  depreciation  of  that  period.  But  the 
promised  half-pay  for  life  was  expected  to  survive  the 
period  of  embarrassment,  and  therefore  to  be  payable 
in  the  sound  currency  of  the  country.  Some  of  the 
reasons  which  inclined  the  officers  to  accept  a  conir 
mutation  have  already  been  noticed.  The  necessity 
of  obtaining  pecuniary  means  to  enable  them  to  em 
bark  in  other  pursuits,  formed  a  no  less  prevalent  inr 
dncement.  To  effect  this  object,  it  was  obviously 
necessary  that  the  equivalent  to  be  received  should 
be  promptly  paid  or  adequately  secured.  The  act  of 


102  APPENDIX. 

commutation  did  neither.  It  is  surely  not  enough  to 
say  that  the  resolution  of  Congress  prescribed  that 
the  commutation  of  five  years  full  pay  should  be  paid 
in  securities,  unless  it  can  be  shown  that  paper,  abso 
lutely  worthless,  was  the  security  intended.  Can  it 
for  a  moment  be  supposed,  that  Congress  meant  to 
deceive  their  brave  defenders,  by  holding  out  a  "  pro 
mise  to  the  ear,"  only  "  to  break  it  to  their  hopes  ?" 
No,  sir,  they  meant  what  they  expressed,  that  the 
securities  should  be  real,  and  not  nominal ;  their  re 
peated  and  earnest  requisitions  upon  the  States  prove 
their  intention ;  and  nothing  but  the  inherent  weak 
ness  of  the  government,  and  the  failure  of  the  States 
to  comply  with  the  requisitions  of  Congress — an  ex 
cuse  fortunately  not  in  our  power  to  plead — prevent 
ed  that  venerated  body  from  redeeming  their  engage 
ments.  But  though  the  depreciation  which  followed 
was  not  attributable  to  Congress,  its  effects  upon  the 
officers  was  not  the  less  fatal.  Necessity,  that  waits 
not  for  times  or  seasons,  compelled  too  many  to  car 
ry  their  certificates  into  market,  and  the  amount  which 
they  produced  served  but  to  realize  the  destruction 
of  all  their  hopes.  The  few  who  retained  them  until 
1791,  experienced  a  loss  not  less  severe  than  unex 
pected.  It  has  already  been  stated  that,  by  the  ope 
rations  of  the  funding  system,  one-third  of  the  amount 
which  the  commutation  certificates  declared  to  be  due 
was  deducted  by  the  government.  The  reason  al- 


APPENDIX.  103 

leged  for  a  measure  apparently  so  destructive  of  pub 
lic  confidence  and  individual  rights,  was  the  well 
known  fact,  that  by  far  the  greater  part  were  held 
by  speculators  who  had  purchased  them  at  an  incon 
siderable  price.  Mr.  Madison,  it  is  true,  endeavor 
ed  to  exempt  the  certificates  in  the  hands  of  the  offi 
cers  from  this  deduction;  but  having  failed  in  his  at 
tempt,  the  least  necessitious  of  the  officers  were  doom 
ed  to  experience  a  diminution  of  their  already  insuf 
ficient  commutation. 

This  act  of  commutation,  therefore,  is  clearly  lia 
ble  to  the  objection : 

1st.  Of  not  being  a  just  equivalent  for  the  promis 
ed  half-pay  for  life. 

2dly.  Of  having  been  effected  under  circumstances, 
and  by  the  operation  of  motives,  which  deprive  it  of 
all  obligatory  force,  and  entitle  the  officers  to  liberal 
ity  instead  of  rigour. 

3dly.  Of  partial  and  defective  execution. 

If,  said  Mr.  V.  B. ,  no  other  obstacle  were  inter 
posed  to  the  claims  of  the  petitioners  than  those  to 
which  he  had  alluded,  fortified  as  they  are,  by  facts 
not  susceptible  of  misconstruction,  and  resting  upon 
the  plain  and  immutable  principles  of  justice,  no  doubt 
could  be  entertained  of  your  favorable  decision.  But 
he  was  apprehensive  that  other  considerations  would 
have  their  influence:  that  the  claims  of  the  petition 
ers  would  be  clouded  by  dangers  in  prospective;  and, 


104  APPENDIX. 

that  the  fear  of  establishing  a  precedent  by  which  the 
door  of  your  Treasury  would  be  unlocked  to  a  crowd 
of  applicants  pleading  their  poverty,  and  urging  their 
misfortunes,  may  induce  you,  in  this  case,  to  resist 
the  strongest  impulses  of  your  hearts,  if  not  the  dic 
tates  of  your  judgments.  Among  the  different  grounds 
upon  which  this  apprehension  is  founded,  a  leading 
one,*  he  said,  is,  '''That  the  bill  did  not  embrace  the 
cases  of  private  soilders,  who  might  also  have  sus 
tained  injustice,  and  whose  services  were  not  less 
meritorious  than  those  of  the  officers  themselves." 

Before  I  proceed,  said  Mr.  V.  B.  to  consider  this  ob 
jection,  allow  me  to  call  your  attention  to  one  or  two 
incidental  remarks.  A  variety  of  persons,  officers  of 
the  Army,  who  have  not  served  to  the  end  of  the  war 
— private  soldiers,  militia  officers,  and  citizens  who 
had  borne  the  privations  of  that  period,  had  been  suc 
cessively  brought  in  review  before  the  Senate;  and 
their  losses  and  sufferings,  after  having  been  forcibly 
depicted,  were  urged  as  a  reason  for  the  rejection  of 
the  claim  of  the  petitioners. 

If,  said  Mr.  V.  B.,  any  thing  could  aggravate  the 
injustice  already  inflicted  upon  the  petitioners,  it 
would  be  an  objection  like  this.  Had  the  claims  of 
the  persons  alluded  to  been  similar  to  those  of  the  pe 
titioners,  the  argument  derived  from  an  equality  of 
riglu  would  be  entitled  to  attention;  but  if  dissimilar, 
let  them  be  disjoined.  The  allowance  of  the  one 


APPENDIX.  |05 

can  constitute  ,-^p.,  ground  for  the  admission  of  the 
other;  and  by  uniting  them  together,  you  throw  up 
on  the  petitioners  the  misfortunes  of  others,  (misfor 
tunes  for  which  they  are  in  no  sense  responsible,)  in 
addition  to  their  own. 

Now,  Sir,  said  Mr.  V.  B.,  it  is  easy  to  demon 
strate  that  no  similarity  exists.  What  is  the  object 
of  this  bill?  To  repair  a  wrong  in  not  having  given 
a  just  equivalent  in  satisfaction  of  a  promise  of  half- 
pay  for  life.  Do  the  claims  of  any  others  rest  upon 
a  basis  like  this?  It  is  alleged  that  any  such  or  sim 
ilar  engagement  was  made  with  the  soldier?  Most 
assuredly  not.  If,  then,  no  similarity  exists,  an  at 
tempt  to  connect  them  would  be  plainly  unjust. 

I  am  aware,  said  Mr.  V.  B.;  of  the  imposing  cha 
racter  of  the  argument  that  has  been  urged  in  favor 
of  the  claims  of  the  common  soldier.  In  a  Govern 
ment  like  ours,  appeals  in  their  favor  cannot  be  made 
without  effect.  They  derive  their  force  from  that 
all  pervading  jealousy  of  power,  which  is  generally 
supposed  to  be  the  concomitant  of  official  station  and 
accidental  elevation.  Although  not  insensible  to  its 
influence,  he  was  not  disposed  to  complain  of  its  ef 
fect ;  and  when  properly  directed  or  controlled,  he 
considered  it  necessary  to  the  successful  operation  of 
our  political  system. 

But,  sir,  said  Mr.  V.  B.,  instead  of  yielding  our 
judgments  to  favor  on  the  one  hand,  or  improper  pre- 


106  APPENDIX. 

judice  on  the  other;  it  became  our  duty  as  public  men, 
to  know  no  distinctions  but  those  of  merit,  and  no  rule 
but  that  of  justice.  Was  it  true,  then,  he  asked,  that 
the  partiality  of  the  Goverment  had  inclined  to  the 
officer,  in  preference  to  the  soilder?  Is  it  not  evident, 
on  the  contrary,  that  in  every  case  the  former  has 
been  treated  with  distrust,  and  the  latter  with  indul 
gence.  Upon  what  can  the  soldiers  predicate  a  claim 
for  additional  compensation?  Upon  the  ground  of 
the  depreciation,  and  no  other.  The  losses  of  the 
officers,  on  this  account,  were  as  much  greater  than 
those  of  the  soldier,  as  the  relative  difference  of  their 
pay;  and  yet  this  bill  contains  no  provision  in  their 
favor  upon  that  subject.  This,  then,  can  form  no  ob 
jection  to  the  proposed  allowance.  But,  sir,  in  re 
lation  to  the  relative  condition  of  the  officer  and  sol 
dier  when  they  entered  the  service,  General  Wash 
ington  informs  us  in  his  letters  to  the  States,  con 
tained  in  the  book  which  I  hold  in  my  hand,  that  the 
private  soldiers  had  this  signal  advantage  over  the 
officers.  They  received  at  the  time  of  enlistment, 
from  the  States,  by  which  they  were  raised,  a  bounty 
from  two  to  three  hundred  dollars,  in  good  money, 
or  provision  for  their  families.  No  such  advances 
were  received  by  the  officers.  What,  sir,  said  Mr. 
V.  B.,  has  been  the  subsequent  conduct  of  the  Go 
vernment?  The  average  pay  of  the  officers,  calcu 
lating  from  a  colonel  downwards,  was  forty  dollars 


APPENDIX.  1O7 

per  month.     That  of  the  soldier  was  six  dollars  and 
a  quarter. 

Now,  by  the  pension  act  of  IS  18,  the  allowance 
to  officers  and  soldiers,  reduced  to  poverty,  was,  for 
the  officers,  twenty  dollars  per  month,  and  for  the 
soldiers  eight  dollars  per  month.     Giving  to  the  offi 
cer  less  than  half-pay,  and  to  the  soldier  more  than 
full  pay.     So,  said  he,  would  it  ever  be.     Whatever 
might  be  the  declamatory  appeals  upon  this  subject, 
there  was  no  danger  that  the  partiality  of  Congress 
would  ever  be  manifested  for  the  officer,  to  the  exclu 
sion  of  the  fair  claims  of  the  soldier.     To  prevent 
misapprehension,  said  Mr.  B.,  I  will  proceed   fur 
ther.     I  have  said,  that  I  am  not  insensible  to  the 
feeling  which  had  been  so  strongly  pressed  into  the 
argument.      As  an   evidence  of  the  sincerity  with 
which   he  spoke,    he  expressed  his  willingness  to 
adopt  any  measure  in  favor  of  the  soldier,  that  the 
gentleman  opposed  to  him,  could  reasonably  desire. 
Most  of  the  soldiers,  said  Mr.  V.  B.,  had  been  pla 
ced   upon   the  pension  list.       The   limited   number 
who  had  not,  must  average  seventy  years  of  age. — 
Let,  said  he,  a  section  be  prepared,  placing  all   who 
had  enlisted  for  the  war,  upon  the  pension  list,  at 
eight  dollars  per  month,  without  requiring  evidence 
of  poverty.     For  a  measure  like  this,  he  would  rea 
dily  vote;  if  even  more  were  proposed,  it  should  re 
ceive  his  deliberate  attention,   and  if  possible,  his 


APPENDIX. 

concurrence.  Frauds  might  be  practised  ;  but  they 
would,  of  necessity,  be  of  short  duration.  Even 
now,  the  expense  would  not  be  felt  ;  in  a  few  years 
it  would  cease  to  be  remembered  ;  while  the  fame 
that  would  attend  it,  would  constitute  one  of  the 
most  valuable  legacies  to  posterity  that  can  be  left 
behind  us. 

Instead,  then,  of  opposing  the  bill  because  it  con 
tains  no  provision  for  the  soldier,  might  he  not  with 
some  propriety  ask  of  gentlemen  to  propose  a  reme 
dy  for  this  defect,  and  not  condemn  for  omission — 
whilst  making  no  effort  to  have  that  omission  sup 
plied  ? 

Another  cause  of  apprehension  from  this  bill,  as  a 
precedent,  arises  from  the  supposition  that  if  it  be 
intended  to  provide  for  losses  incurred  by  the  de 
preciation  of  commutation  certificates,  the  govern 
ment  will  be  bound  to  compensate  for  similar  losses, 
whether  incurred  by  the  army  or  the  public  credit 
ors.  These  fears,  said  Mr.  V.  B.  I  consider  vision 
ary.  The  bill  does  not  propose  a  compensation  on 
account  of  depreciation.  This  would  be  impractica 
ble,  because  no  data  could  be  obtained  by  which  an 
estimate  could  be  formed  to  justify  a  legislative  act. 
The  depreciation  of  the  commutation  certificates  has 
been  referred  to  solely  for  the  purpose  of  enforcing 
the  equity  of  a  claim  originating  in  a  contract,  never 
satisfied  by  the  act  of  commutation,  but  from  which 


APPENDIX.  109 

you  are  legally  absolved  by  the  acts  of  limitation. — 
Until  the  soldiers  can  plead  a  similar  contract,  and 
the  equitable  considerations  which  the  officers  have 
urged,  they  can  have  no  right  to  place  their  claims 
on  an  equal  footing.  Still,  less,  sir,  said  Mr.  V.  B. 
can  it  be  said  that  this  bill  will  afford  a  pretext  for 
reviving  the  dormant  claims  of  the  public  creditors. 
Their  case  is  widely  different  from  that  of  either  the 
officers  or  the  soldiers.  While  the  pay  of  the  army 
was  fixed  and  stationary,  its  actual  value  was  re 
duced  by  the  depreciation  of  currency,  which  they 
were  compelled*to  receive  at  par.  But  the  suppliers 
of  the  army,  the  great  mass  of  public  creditors,  re 
gulated  their  contracts  by  the  fluctuations  in  which 
they  expected  to  be  paid,  and  the  prices  demanded 
bore  an  exact  proportion  to  its  depreciation  in  mar 
ket. 

It  has  been  urged,  too,  as  an  objection,  that  provi 
sion  had  not  been  made  for  the  officers  who  did  not 
serve  to  the  close  of  the  war,  and  for  the  militia. — 
It  was  sufficient  to  say  that  with  them  the  govern 
ment  had  entered  into  no  such  engagement.  The 
surviving  officers  of  the  revolution,  who  had  been 
called  from  service  before  the  end  of  the  war,  gene 
rally  by  public  considerations,  would  not,  he  was 
persuaded,  repine  at  the  success  of  their  brethren  in 
arms,  or  make  it  the  basis  of  unfounded  complaint. 
It  has  been  stated  by  the  venerable  and  worthy  Sena- 
10 


APPENDIX. 

tor  before  me,  [Gen.  S.  SMITH,]  that  this  bill  wiU 
not  embrace  his  case,  for  the  reasons  he  has  given. 
Who  would  have  more  cause  to  complain  than  he,  if 
indeed,  any  cause  could  be  found  in  the  measure  pro 
posed  ?  Of  his  conduct  and  services  in  two  wars,  it 
would  be  superfluous  to  speak.  They  are  familiar 
to  us  all ;  and  he  wished  he  could  add,  had  been  as 
well  appreciated  by  the  Union  as  by  the  State  whose 
interests  he  had  promoted  in  peace,  and  whose  safety 
he  had  defended  in  war.  The  solicitude  which  he 
had  manifested  for  the  friends  of  his  youth,  and  his 
companions  in  danger,  must  have  awakened  the  sen 
sibilities  of  those  who  witnessed  it  ;  while  his  zealous 
though  disinterested  support  of  the  bill  upon  your 
table,  constituted  a  convincing  proof  that  it  would  be 
viewed  by  others,  who  might  be  excluded  from  its 
provisions,  with  equal  satisfaction. 

The  last,  and  to  his  mind,  the  strongest  objection 
against  the  passage  of  this  bill,  was  its  making  na 
provision  for  the  widows  and  children  of  deceased 
officers,  who  were  entitled  to  half-pay.  By  whom, 
sir,  said  Mr.  V.  B.  has  this  objection  been  adduced  ? 
By  the  parties  themselves  ?  No,  sir  ;  by  those  who 
have  had  no  conference  with  the  parties.  Do  they 
advocate  the  claims  of  the  heirs  and  widows  because 
they  have  heretofore  been  importunate  for  relief? — 
No,  sir;  from  the  first  agitation  of  this  question;  in 
1810,  to  the  present  moment,  he  was  authorized,  he 


APPENDIX. 

believed,  to  say,  that  not  a  single  petition  had  been 
presented  in  their  behalf.  Sir,  said  Mr.  V.  B.  we 
resist  the  claims  of  the  living  by  exorcising  the  spi 
rits  of  the  dead.  The  gentleman  from  Georgia  de 
clares  that  he  will  not  vote  for  the  bill,  because  the 
heirs  and  widows  are  not  included,  and  that  he  would 
not  vote  for  it,  if  they  were.  It  has  been  asked  by 
the  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  whether  a  positive 
debt,  a  vested  interest,  does  not  descend  to  the  heir, 
and  whether  a  government,  any  more  than  an  indivi 
dual,  is  discharged  by  the  death  of  its  creditor  ? — 
The  objection  thus  presented  is  plausible  in  appear 
ance,  but  he  was  persuaded  easily  surmounted.  He 
had  already,  in  his  opinion,  given  a  satisfactory  an 
swer.  Whatever  might  have  been  the  original  char 
acter  of  the  claim,  it  could  no  longer  be  regarded  as 
legally  binding  on  the  government.  It  was  barred 
by  the  statute  of  limitations — a  measure  sometimes 
harsh,  but  not  the  less  founded  in  policy  and  justice. 
This  shield,  interposed  by  the  government  for  justi 
fiable  ends,  might  be  removed,  at  the  option  of  the 
government  only  in  the  cases  which  policy  and  jus 
tice  might  demand.  It  has  a  perfect  right  to  permit 
it  to  operate  upon  the  officers,  their  widows,  or  their 
heirs — and  neither  might,  in  strictness,  have  a  legal 
ground  of  complaint.  I  have  endeavored,  said  Mr. 
V.  B.  to  show  that  equity  requires,  and  policy  does 
not  forbid  the  allowance  proposed  for  the  surviving 


|J2  APPENDIX. 

officers.  The  claims  of  the  widows,  stood,  in  his 
opinion,  on  a  different  foundation.  But  he  should 
not  be  willing,  for  one,  to  oppose  them.  Their  num 
ber  must  be  small ;  not  half  as  great,  in  all  proba 
bility,  as  that  of  surviving  officers  j  say  one  hundred 
at  the  outside.  Give  them  a  gratuity  of  one  or  two 
thousand  dollars  each  ;  and  if  necessary,  deduct  it 
from  the  sum  you  would  otherwise  give  to  the  sur 
viving  officers.  They,  he  was  well  assured,  would 
not  utter  a  complaint.  On  the  contrary,  the  value 
of  what  they  received,  would  be  doubly  enhanced 
by  the  cause  of  the  deduction.  The  supposed  claims 
of  the  heirs  could  not  be  presented  to  your  attention 
with  equal  force.  Of  the  two  thousand  four  hun 
dred  and  eighty  officers  of  the  revolution,  two  thou 
sand  two  hundred  and  fifty  are  no  more.  Their 
temporal  interests,  whatever  they  were,  have  been 
distributed,  in  some  cases,  among  successive  gene 
rations.  To  ascertain  and  distribute  the  respective 
shares,  to  which  the  heirs  would  be  entitled,  of  the 
small  amount  now  proposed  to  be  given,  if  not  whol 
ly  impracticable,  would  involve  an  expense  that 
would  consume  the  means  of  your  bounty  ;  and 
without  being  productive  of  substantial  benefit,  your 
resources  would  be  exhausted.  But,  said  he,  these 
are  considerations  of  an  inferior  character,  founded 
on  expediency  only.  Your  refusal  to  grant  to  the 
heirs,  may  be  placed  on  the  highest  ground  of  prin^ 


APPENDIX.  113 

ciple.  Whatever  you  now  do  in  favor  of  the  officer, 
must  be  voluntary,  proceeding  from  your  liberality 
and  gratitude.  All  other  obligations  have  been  cut 
off  by  time.  AH  your  endowments  springing  from 
such  motives,  being  for  the  reward  of  personal  ser 
vices,  may  with  propriety  be  confined  to  those  by 
whom  those  services  were  rendered.  This,  said  he, 
is  not  a  new  principle,  in  your  legislation.  It  lies  at 
the  foundation  of  the  act  of  ISIS,  providing,  not  for 
the  heirs,  but  certain  portions  of  the  revolutionary 
officers  and  soldiers,  by  the  operation  of  which,  mil 
lions  have  in  his  opinion  been  beneficially  applied. 
It  was  called  indeed  a  pension  act,  but  with  no  more 
propriety,  according  to  the  established  principles  of 
the  government,  than  the  bill  upon  your  table. 

What,  according  to  these  principles,  are  the  grounds 
upon  which  pensions  have  beeen  granted  ?  They 
were  exclusively,  disability  produced  by  known 
wounds  received  in  the  public  service,  and  half  pay 
for  a  limited  time,  to  the  widow  and  infant  children 
of  those  who  had  fallen  in  action.  Since  the  date  of 
our  independence,  these  only  have  been  the  legal  and 
appropriate  causes  for  being  placed  on  the  list  of 
pensioners.  The  annual  allowance  to  a  limited  num 
ber  of  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  revolutionary 
army,  by  the  act  of  ISIS,  was  founded  on  no  such 
consideration,  otherwise  the  widows  and  orphans  of 

the  deceased  officers  and  soldiers  would  have  been  as 
10* 


APPENDIX. 

much  entitled  to  your  bounty  as  they  can  be  now. — 
They  did  not  receive  it ;  and  the  only  justifiable  rea 
son  which  could  then  have  been  given,  was  the  one 
which  may  now  be  assigned.     You  had  a  right  to 
make  your  donation  personal.     You  had  a  right  to 
enlarge  or  contract  the   circle  of  your  beneficence, 
according  to  your  own  views  of  the  state  of  your 
treasury,  the  exigencies  of  society,  and  the  claims  of 
humanity.     Among  the  most  powerful  motives  for 
its  adoption,  was  a  desire  to  rescue  the  country  from 
the  reproach  of  seeing  those  to  whom  it  was  indebt 
ed   for  ils  liberties,  thrown,  in  the  evening  of  their 
days,  amidst  the  prosperity  they   had   been   instru 
mental   in   producing,  upon  the  cold   charities  of  an 
unfeeling  world.     It  was  to  prevent  the  vivid  and 
heart-rending  picture  of  Roman  ingratitude,   which, 
though  the  invention  of  modern  days,  has  so  long 
interested  the  world,  from  being  only  descriptive  of 
real  life  in  the  streets  of  this  proud  capitol. 

Mr.  V.  B.  said  he  would  say  nothing  as  to  the 
amount.  Full  justice  liad  already  been  done  to  that 
subject.  The  general  object  was  to  make  up,  in 
part,  the  loss  sustained  by  the  officers  out  of  the  pro 
fits  made  by  the  government,  by  the  successful  result 
of  its  compromise  with  them.  Let  us,  therefore, 
said  he,  pass  the  bill  upon  your  table.  Let  this  body 
have  the  credit  of  originating  it.  Let  no  narrow  or 
weak  views  impede  our  course.  No  matter  where 


APPENDIX.  115 

those  honorable  and  patriotic  men  are  from;  wheth 
er  from  the  North  or  the  South,  the  East  or  th« 
West ;  whether  from  the  old  States  or  the  new.  In 
every  State  where  the  blessings  of  a  free  govern 
ment  are  enjoyed,  there  they  had  a  name,  if  not  a 
local  habitation,  that  could  not  fail  to  work  its  way 
to  the  hearts  of  their  fellow-citizens.  It  was  true, 
he  said,  that  by  the  list  submitted,  it  did  not  appear 
that  any  of  the  officers  resided  in  seven  of  the  new 
States,  and  he  was  not  sorry  for  it  If  he  were  not 
deceived  in  the  character  as  well  of  the  people  of  the 
States,  as  of  their  representatives  on  that  floor,  they 
would  rejoice  that  an  opportunity  was  thus  presented 
to  evince  their  devotion  to  the  cause  of  the  revolu 
tion,  and  their  gratitude  for  the  services  of  those 
who  fought  our  battles  in  that  day,  without  even  a 
suspicion  of  a  selfish  or  local  object.  This  will  be 
the  more  gratifying  to  them,  because  it  was  not  their 
good  fortune,  as  States,  to  be  in  a  situation  to  take 
part  in  that  great  struggle,  out  of  which  grew  this 
mighty  empire,  and  all  the  blessings  of  civil  and  re 
ligious  liberty,  that  we  now  so  preeminently  enjoy, 
He  had  not  a  doubt  that  all  that  remained  for  them  to 
do,  they  would  do  well.  If  evidence  of  the  fact  were 
wanting,  he  had  only  to  allude  to  the  small  but  pa 
triotic  State  of  Illinois,  which  alone  had  instructed 
her  representatives  on  that  floor,  upon  the  subject 
under  consideration,  in  a  spirit  reflecting  upon  her- 


116  APPENDIX. 

self  the  highest  credit,  and  affording  the  most  flatter 
ing  presage  of  her  future  greatness. 

Mr.  V.  B.  said,  that  he  was  distressed  by  the  con 
sciousness  that  he  had  already  trespassed  too  much 
upon  the  kind  indulgence  of  the  Senate.  In  any 
other  case  he  would  have  considered  it  reprehensi 
ble  to  have  done  so.  He  would  therefore,  (although 
there  were  yet  many  considerations  which  he  intend 
ed  to  have  urged,)  draw  his  observations  to  a  close. 
There  was,  however,  one  point  upon  which  he  felt 
too  much  solicitude  to  suffer  it  to  pass  unnoticed. — 
If  by  any  one  he  had  been  understood  as  casting 
aught  of  censure  or  reproach  upon  the  old  Congress, 
he  desired  to  correct  so  erroneous  an  impression. — 
He  could  not  indeed  have  done  so  consistently  with 
his  own  long  cherished  opinions.  On  the  contrary, 
he  did  not  believe  that  the  world  ever  witnessed,  or 
ever  again  will  witness  a  body  of  men  more  patriotic 
or  enlightened.  He  would  not  believe  that  it  was 
in  their  nature  to  be  indifferent  to  the  just  claims  of 
the  revolutionary  army.  The  question  with  them 
was  not  what  they  would,  but  what  they  could  do. — 
The  embarrassments  under  which  they  labored  from 
want  of  power,  and  the  backwardness  of  the  States, 
who  themselves  were  struggling  against  the  exhaust 
ing  effects  of  a  cruel,  bloody  and  protracted  war, 
were  known  to  all.  As  little  did  he  wish  to  cast  re 
proach  upon  the  councils  of  the  nation.  Every 


APPENDIX. 

thing  could  not  be  done  at  once.  Much  has  been 
done  under  the  present  Constitution,  to  satisfy  the 
claims  of  justice,  and  vindicate  the  character  of  the 
republic.  It  is  our  good  fortune  that  something  still 
remains  for  us  to  do.  Fear  not,  that  in  doing  it,  you 
will  go  beyond  the  wishes  of  your  constituents — 
your  feelings  lag  behind  them.  Speaking  for  his 
immediate  constituents — and  he  had  not  the  presump 
tion  to  suppose  that  they  were  more  just  or  public 
spirited  than  their  neighbors — for  them  he  could  say, 
with  confidence,  that,  having  some  share  in  the  na 
tional  funds,  and  contributing  no  inconsiderable  part 
of  their  amount,  they  would  willingly  pour  them  out, 
like  water,  in  a  cause  so  righteous.  With  them,  a 
million  more  or  less  of  public  bebt,  compared  with 
the  preservation  of  the  public  faith,  would  be  as  no 
thing.  He  gloried  in  the  consciousness  that  he  was 
a  representative  of  a  people  influenced  by  such  ele 
vated  sentiments.  Every  day.  said  he,  makes  the 
remnant  of  this  band  of  worthies  more  dear  to  the 
American  people.  When  that  period  arrives — which 
a  majority  of  the  Senate  may  expect  to  'see — when 
the  last  of  the  officers  of  the  revolutionary  army 
shall  be  called  from  time  into  eternity,  it  will  be  the 
cause  of  keen  regret,  and  self-reproach,  if,  upon  a 
review  of  the  past,  it  shall  appear  that  any  thing  was 
omitted  that  ought  to  have  been  done,  to  smooth 
their  passage  to  the  tomb. 


118  APPENDIX. 

One  word  more,  and  he  had  done.  The  Senator 
from  Maine,  [Mr.  CHANDLER,]  who,  although  he 
had  lost  his  father  in  the  struggle,  had  felt  it  to  be 
his  duty  (and  there  was  no  man,  he  believed,  who 
more  implicitly  followed  his  sense  of  duty,)  to  op 
pose  the  bill,  had,  with  his  characteristic  shrewdness 
and  pertinency,  asked — did  General  Washington, 
whilst  at  the  head  of  government,  ever  recommend 
this' subject  to  the  notice  of  Congress?  The  worthy 
Senator  well  knew  what  the  answer  must  be,  and 
the  train  of  reflections  it  would  give  rise  to.  Gen 
eral  Washington  did  not — but  why?  Before  and  af 
ter  the  war,  he  spared  no  pains  to  make  the  States 
sensible  of  what  was  due  to  the  officers  on  this  very 
point.  His  letters  have  been  read.  He  urged  them 
by  all  the  considerations  that  belonged  to  the  subject, 
to  act  efficiently  for  their  relief.  He  failed.  After 
he  came  into  the  government,  the  officers  themselyes 
evinced  no  disposition  to  revive  their  claims,  and  it 
certainly  would  not  have  become  him  to  be  the  first 
to  bring  them  forward.  It  is  not  difficult  to  con 
ceive  why  the  officers  were,  at  that  day,  willing  to 
avoid  all  applications  for  pecuniary  aid.  New  pros 
pects  opened — they  were  probably  not  exempt  from 
those  feelings  of  ambition  and  hope  of  preferment, 
which  actuate  mankind.  They  have  out-lived  them, 
and  they  humbly  ask  for  justice.  But,  sir,  what 
was  the  language  of  the  Father  of  his  Country,  when 


APPENDIX.  119 

the  subject  was  an  open  one  ?  In  his  circular  of 
June,  17S3,  to  the  governors  of  the  States,  he  said  : 
"  The  provision  of  half  pay  for  life,  as  promised  by 
"the  resolution  of  Congress,  was  a  reasonable  com- 
"  peiisation  offered  at  a  time  when  congress  had  no- 
"  thing  else  to  give  to  the  officers  for  services  then 
"  to  be  performed  ;  it  was  the  price  of  their  blood 
"  and  your  independence,  and  as  a  debt  of  honour,  it 
"  can  never  be  cancelled  until  it  be  fairly  discharg- 
"  ed."  One  question,  said  Mr.  V.  B.  and  I  have 
done. — Has  it  been  fairly  discharge^? 


[In  reference  to  the  rejection  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  by  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  when  nominated  as  Minister  to  Great 
Britain,  we  have  selected  the  masterly  speech  of  Mr.  FORSYTH, 
and  the  correspondence  between  the  Republican  Members  of 
the  legislature  of  New  York  and  President  JACKSOX,  as  abun* 
dantly  sufficient  to  vindicate  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Van  Buren, 
and  to  expose  the  true  character  of  that  wanton,  violent  and 
unjustifiable  measure.] 

REMARKS  OF  HON.  JOHN  FORSYTH, 

In  the  U.  S.  Senate,  on  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Van  Bur  en. 

[Mr.  Forsyth  makes  no  apology  for  the  rough  sketch  he  presents 
of  the  remarks  made  by  him  in  the  secret  sessions  of  the  Sen 
ate,  on  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Van  Buren.  The  speeches 
against  the  nomination  having  been,  for  the  first  time  in  the 
history  of  this  government,  thrown  upon  the  people,  it  is  due 
to  the  person  assailed,  that  what  was  suggested  on  the  other 
side  should  be  known.  Mr.  Forsyth  is  well  aware  that,  in  exe 
cuting  his  part  of  this  duty,  he  has  done  justice  neither  to  the 
subject  nor  to  himself.] 


12O  APPENDIX. 

I  regret,  Mr.  President,  that  the  Senator  from  MIs- 
sississippi,  (Mr.  Poindexter,)  has  been  so  long  absent 
from  his  seat,  not  only  because  he  has  been  suffering 
pain,  but  because  had  he  been  here,  he  could  have 
escaped  the  commission  of  numerous  errors  into 
which  he  has  been  led.  The  friends  of  Mr.  Van  Bu- 
ren  have  not  obstructed  inquiry  into  his  conduct ;  they 
have  challenged  investigation,  offered  it  in  every  and 
any  form  consistent  with  the  obligations  of  the  Senate 
to  its  own  character.  The  Senator  from  Maine,  (Mr. 
Holmes)  shrunk  from  his  own  resolution.  It  was 
laid  aside  by  the  votes  of  those  opposed,  contrary  to 
the  votes  and  wishes  of  those  friendly  to  the  nomina 
tion.  That  Senator  was  distinctly  invited  by  one  of 
the  Senators  from  New  York,  (Mr.  Marcy,)  to  spe 
cify  any  act  dishonorable  to  the  character  of  Mr. 
Van  Buren,  and  a  pledge  given  that  inquiry  into  it 
should  be  made  in  the  amplest  manner  by  a  commit- 
teehaving  all  the  power  necessary  to  the  establishment 
of  truth.  The  Senator  from  Maine  was  distinctly 
told  by  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  (Mr. 
Hayne,)  on  what  terms  he  could  command  his  vote. 
He  was  told  to  cover  the  ground  indicated,  by  proof, 
and  he  would  join  in  the  condemnation  of  the  choice 
of  the  President.  The  Senator  from  Maine  delibe 
rated  on  this  offer,  and,  after  deliberation,  abandoned 
his  resolution,  leaving  all  to  grope  their  way  to  a 
conclusion,  as  accident  or  prejudice  might  direct 


APPENDIX.  121 

them.  A  promise  was  made,  that  he  should  have  a 
committee  if  he  would  venture  upon  it,  and  the  offer 
was  deliberately  and  most  unequivocally  declined. 
Yet,  after  all  this,  at  this  eleventh  hour,  the  Senator 
from  Mississippi  says,  if  the  friends  of  Mr.  Van  Bu- 
ren  will  solicit  a  committee,  he  will  give  what  he  has 
collected,  while  confined  to  his  sick  chamber,  and  on 
which  his  own  opinion  is  formed,  and  if  the  commit 
tee  is  not  raised,  he  will,  with  this  matter  in  his  poc 
ket,  vote  against  the  nomination,  in  order  to  preserve 
the  morality  of  the  nation,  endangered  by  the  bestow 
al  of  a  new  office  on  &  gambling  politician. 

As  the  friend,  personal  and  political,  of  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  I  reject  the  liberal  offer  of  the  Senator,  in 
defiance  of  his  threatened  negative  on  the  nomina 
tion.  Let  him  unite  with  those  who,  like  him,  are 
so  anxious  to  preserve  the  morality  of  the  country  by 
rejecting  a  man  whose  most  odious  crime  is  his  rising 
popularity  and  transcendent  ability.  The  friends  of 
Air.  Van  Buren  will  not  degrade  him  by  asking  a 
Committee,  to  free  him  from  the  suspicions  engender 
ed  in  the  Senator's  mind,  in  his  search  after  correct 
information,  from  sources  within  his  reach.  His  cha 
racter  wants  no  such  justification.  Does  the  gentle 
man  wish  to  justify  his  vote?  Let  him  propose  a 
Committee;  he  shall  have  our  concurrence.  Does 
he  desire  to  convince  the  Senate?  Let  him  produce 

the  private  source  information,  which,  I  venture  to 
11 


APPENDIX; 

say,  like  the  only  one  he  speaks  of  openly r,  is  worth 
less  in  the  eye  of  any  man  who  is  not  so  embittered 
by  prejudice  that  he  cannot  see  truth.  This  letter, 
by  a  former  partizan,  a  paltry  editor  of  a  paltry  news 
paper,  and  to  prove  what  ?  that  Mr.  Van  Buren  said 
that  the  late  Cabinet  was  dissolved  by  the  conspiracy 
of  the  Vice-President,  to  drive  Maj.  Eaton  from  the 
Cabinet,  and  that  he  withdrew  to  escape  the  conse 
quences  of  the  dissolution.  Sir,  Mr.  Van  Buren  holds 
no  such  conversation  with  persons  who  were  once  Ms 
partisans,  and  now  his  enemies. 

But  supposing  he  had  declared,  or  does  entertain, 
the  opinion  imputed  to  him.  Is  it  a  crime  which 
disqualifies  him  for  a  high  office,  that  he  believes  the 
charge  made  and  sought  to  be  established  by  the  late 
Secretary  of  War?  If  such  be  the  Senator's  opinion, 
can  he  tell  us  how  far  the  exclusion  extends?  The 
Senator's  letter  story  is  contradictrd  by  his  previous 
ly  expressed  opinion.  What,  Sir,  the  most  artful 
man  in  the  world,  proclaim  to  a  paltry  editor  that  he 
acted  in  the  manner  indicated,  to  escape  the  storm 
consequent  on  the  dissolution  of  the  Cabinet!  If  it 
had  been  true — if  such  bad  been  his  motive,  he  would 
have  sought  to  conceal  it  from  himself.  No  degree 
of  confidential  intimacy  could  have  tempted  an  artful 
intriguer  to  such  a  disclosure.  The  story  if  true, 
proves  a  man,  whose  extraordinary  prudence,  under 
all  circumstances,  through  a  long  life  in  the  stormy 


APPENDIX.  123 

politics  of  a  vexed  and  turbulent  State,  has  gained 
him  the  confidence  of  his  friends,  and  called  down 
upon  him  the  charge  of  consummate  artifice  from 
his  enemies,  to  be  a  silly  driveller — a  simpleton, 
opening  his  budget  of  petty  motives  to  one  whose 
trade  was  to  thrive,  by  making  himself  important  by 
confidential  and  oracular  disclosures  in  his  unknown 
journal. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  stands  in  a  strange  condition  be 
fore  us ;  from  the  beginning  of  this  administration, 
before  he  came  to  the  post  assigned  him,  until  the 
present  hour,  he  is  held  accountable  by  a  certain  de 
scription  of  political  men  in  this  country  for  all  the 
evil  that  has  been  done,  and  all  the  good  that  has  been 
omitted.  Now,  sir,  if  he  is  accountable  for  every 
thing,  if  his  hand  is  to  be  traced  every  where,  let  him 
have  credit  for  the  good  that  has,  and  the  evil  that 
has  not,  been  done.  Balance  the  account  of  the  ad 
mitted  good  and  evil  imputed,  and  the  result  will  fill 
the  hearts  of  his  enemies  with  the  bitterest  disap 
pointment.  But,  sir,  this  is  not  the  justice  intended 
for  him.  He  is  responsible  for  all  that  is  complained 
of.  Let  us  see  the  Senator  from  Mississippi  (Mr. 
Poindexter's)  catalogue.  There  were  no  Cabinet 
Councils — did  the  country  suffer  from  his  failure  to 
follow  the  example  of  late  administrations,  from  this 
adherence  to  the  example  of  General  Washington? 
But  there  was  one  Cabinet  Council  called  to  sit  on 


|24  APPENDIX. 

a  lady's  reputation.  Indeed,  and  this  Mr.  Van  Bu- 
ren  is  also  answerable  for.  And  is  it  true,  sir,  that 
the  honorable  members  of  the  late  cabinet  who  re 
mained  so  tranquilly  at  their  posts  enjoying  all  their 
emoluments  and  honors  with  becoming  gratification, 
suffered  themselves  to  be  deprived  of  their  accustom 
ed  rights  of  a  seat  and  voice  at  the  Council  Board  of 
deliberations  on  great  matters  of  vital  interest  to  the 
public,  and  yet  obeyed  the  beck  and  call  of  Mr. 
Van  Buren,  to  sit  upon  a  lady's  reputation!  Of  what 
stuff  were  they  made  that  they  did  not  distinctly  as 
certain  if  this  restriction  of  claimed  right,  and  this 
insulting  call  upon  them  to  step  out  of  their  appro 
priate  spheres  was  the  work  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  or 
the  act  of  tlie  President.  If  the  first,  why  did  they 
not  demand  his  dismission,  and,  if  refused,  indig 
nantly  throw  their  commissions  in  the  teeth  of  the 
Chief  Magistrate.  The  omitted  Cabinet  Councils, 
and  the  single  call,  were  no  such  dreadful  offences 
until  obliged  to  follow  Mr.  Van  Buren's  example 
and  resign.  The  history  of  the  last  year  establishes 
the  wisdom  of  the  President  in  calling 'no  Cabinet 
Council  to  deliberate  as  there  could  have  been  no 
harmony  in  their  consultations,  and  on  the  single 
question  said  to  have  been  submitted,  the  Executive 
Cabinet  have  shown  themselves  incompetent  to  de 
cide.  He  is  not  competent  to  decide  on  a  lady's  re 
putation,  who  throws  out  of  view  on  the  question  of 


APPENDIX.  125 

how  she  should  be  treated,  her  guilt  or  innocence.  I 
will  not  condescend  further  to  refer  to  the  trash  with 
which  the  public  press  has  been  loaded  and  polluted 
for  months,  and  unless  the  Senator  from  Mississippi 
has  better  evidence  than  the  public  has  yet  seen,  the 
hope  of  implicating  Mr.  Van  Buren  in  the  distur 
bances  that  preceded  the  dissolution  of  the  Cabinet, 
is  forlorn. 

Let  us  see  the  next  crime  in  the  catalogue  of  the 
Senator  from  Mississippi,  (Mr.  Poindexter.)  Mr. 
Van  Buren  intrigued  the  dissolution  of  the  late  CabU 
net,  taking  care  previously  to  secure  a  safe  and  pro 
minent  retreat  in  the  mission  to  England.  It  is 
known  to  every  well  informed  man  in  this  district 
that  Mr.  Van  Buren,  by  his  admirable  temper,  his 
conciliating  manners  and  unwaried  exertions,  kept  the 
cabinet  together  long  after  its  discordant  materials 
were  so  well  ascertained  that  its  dissolution  sooner  or 
later  was  -a  matter  of  eommon  speculation.  Sir,  no 
body  doubted  that  the  parties  could  not  get  on  toge 
ther,  and  the  only  surprise  was,  that  the  President 
did  not  proceed  to  restore  harmony  by  the  removal 
of  those  whose  disagreements  produced  the  discord. 
But  Mr.  Van  Buren  had  the  unparalleled  effrontery  to 
resign  on  motives  of  delicacy  and  disinterestedness, 
and  as  this  mode  of  conduct  was  so  unusual,  it  has 
excited  a  vast  deal  of  surmise  and  wonder.  The  Sena* 
tor  from  Mississippi,  (Mr.  P.)  has  however, 


11 


126  APPENDIX. 

torily  to  himself,  solved  the  mystery.  Mr.  Van  Bu  - 
ren  arranged  himself  into  a  prominent  place,  before 
he  resigned,  and  a  new  cabinet  to  suit  his  ambitious 
views.  Now,  sir,  as  to  the  proof  of  this  preconcert 
ed  arrangement  for  his  accommodation  and  elevation. 
The  President  told  somebody,  who  was  a  late  Sec 
retary,  that  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  to  go  to  England, 
and  named  to  him  the  Secretaries,  who  were  to  come 
in  ;  but  this  was  after  Mr.  Van  Buren  had  resigned. 
In  the  interview  it  is  acknowledged  that  Mr.  Van 
Buren's  letter  of  resignation  was  handed  to  this  vo 
lunteer  repeater  of  conversations  with  the  Chief  Ma 
gistrate.  But  the  Senator  says  it  was  before  the  let 
ter  was  published — thence  he  concludes  Mr.  V.  B. 
had  made  a  cat's  paw  of  the  President  for  the  pro 
motion  of  his  own  views:  a  most  logical  inference, 
truly!  And  this  new  cabinet  arranged  to  further 
Mr.  V.  B.'s  unholy  ambition  !  Is  there  man,  woman, 
or  child  in  the  country,  who  does  not  know  and  feel 
that  the  change  has  been  beneficial  to  the  public,  that 
there  is  now  more  strength,  more  virtue  and  more 
harmony  than  there  was  before  ?  Is  there  any  man 
who  will  hazard  his  reputation  by  asserting  that  the 
present  secretaries  are  capable  of  being  made  the  in 
struments  of  any  man's  ambition,  or  so  subject  to  the 
bias  of  individual  influence,  as  the  late?  Partizans 
are  not  substituted  for  pure,  disinterested  patriots; 
and  let  me  say,  sir,  that  more  partizans  have  gone  out 
than  have  come  in. 


APPENDIX.  J27 

But  this  mission  to  England  was  not  sought  by  Mr. 
Van  Buren  ;  his  friends  know  that  it  was  pressed  on 
him  by  the  President,  and  that  it  was  reluctantly  ac 
cepted  at  the  earnest  solicitations  of  friends  who  were 
satisfied  it  would  promote   his  own   reputation,  and 
redound  to  the  honor  and  welfare  of  the  nation.     I 
will   not  follow  further  the  Senator's  lead.     Long 
known  to  me  as  a  politician  and  as  a  man,  acting  to- 
.gether  in  the  hour  of  political  adversity,  when  we 
had  lost  all  but  our  honor — a  witness  of  his   move 
ments  when  elevated  to  power,  and  in  the  possession 
of  the  confidence  of  the  Chief  Magistrate,  and  of  the 
great  majority  of  the  people,  I  have  never  witnessed 
aught  in   Mr.   Van   Buren    which   requires  conceal 
ment,  palliation,  or  coloring — never  any  thing  to  les 
sen  his  character  as  a  patriot  and  as  a  man — nothing 
which  he   might  not  desire  to  see  exposed  to  the 
scrutiny  of  every   member  of  this   body,   with  the 
calm  confidence  of  unsullied  integrity,     He  is  called 
an  artful  man — a  giant  of  artifice — a  wily  magician. 
From  whom  does  he  receive  these  opprobious  names? 
From  open  enemies  and   pretended  friends.     In  the 
midst  of  all   the   charges  that   have   been  brought 
against  him,  in  shapes  more  varying  than   those  of 
Proteus,  and  thick  as  the  autumnal  leaves  that  strew 
the  vale  of  Volambrosa,  where  is  the  false  friend  or 
malignant  enemy  that  has  fixed  upon  him  one  dis 
honorable  or  degrading  act?     If  innocent  of  artifice, 


128  APPENDIX. 

if  governed  by  a  high  sense  of  honor,  and  regulating 
his  conduct  by  elevated  principles,  this  is  not  wonder 
ful  ;  but,  if  the  result  of  skill,  of  the  ars  celere  artem, 
he  must  be  more  cunning  than  the  devil  himself,  to 
have  thus  avoided  the  snares  of  enemies  and  the 
treachery  of  pretended  friends. 

It  is  not  possible,  sir,  that  he  should  have  escaped, 
had  he  been  otherwise  than  pure.  Those  ignorant  of 
his  unrivalled  knowledge  of  human  character,  his 
power  of  penetrating  into  the  designs,  and  defeating 
the  purposes  of  his  adversaries,  seeing  his  rapid  ad 
vance  to  public  honors,  and  popular  confidence,  im 
pute  to  art  what  is  the  natural  result  of  those  simple 
causes.  Extraordinary  talent,  untiring  industry,  in 
cessant  vigilance,  the  happiest  temper,  which  success 
cannot  corrupt,  nor  disappointment  sour  ;  these  are 
the  sources  of  his  unexampled  success, — the  magic 
arts — the  artifices  of  intrigue,  to  which  only  he  has 
resorted  in  his  eventful  life.  Those  who  envy  his 
success,  may  learn  wisdom  from  his  example. 

Having  disposed  of  the  catalogue  of  the  Senator 
from  Mississippi,  let  me  advert  to  the  grounds  occu 
pied  by  a  little  army  of  objections  on  the  other  side 
of  this  chamber:  How  many  sacrifices  of  feeling  to 
duty,  are  we  not  about  to  witness !  the  honorable 
Senators  of  Maryland,  Connecticut,  Delaware,  Mas 
sachusetts,  Ohio  and  Kentucky  ;  are  constrained  by 
duty  to  vote  against  his  nomination — and  a//,  on  pub- 


APPENDIX.  129 

lie  grounds — no  private  feeling;  Oh  no!  nothing  like 
it;  public  duty  against  private  feeling,  is  the  order  of 
the  day.  And  what  is  the  dreadful  public  crime 
Mr.  Van  l3uren  has  committed?  Hear — sir,  hear. 
He  has  degraded  the  country  by  giving  instructions 
to  the  late  Minister  to  Great  Britain,  Mr.  McLane, 
about  the  West  India  trade.  What  instructions? 
Can  it  be  those  on  which  the  act  of  1S30  passed — 
those  which  have  been  among  our  printed  documents 
for  these  twelve  months,  forming  part  of  the  Presi 
dent's  communication  to  Congress  of  January,  1831. 
Have  those  honorable  gentlemen  who  are  now  so 
shocked  at  the  public  degradation,  so  eager  to  punish 
the  author  of  this  national  disgrace,  been  sleeping  at 
their  posts — no  one  to  cry  out,  to  ring  the  alarm,  at 
the  dangers  to  which  the  public  honor  was  exposed — 
no  one  to  interfere  to  prevent  the  United  States  from 
being  placed  at  the  foot-stool  of  the  British  throne? 
Quietly  witnessing  the  consummation  of  the  crime, 
passing  an  act  with  their  knowledge  of  these  instrua- 
tions,  to  secure  the  boon,  which  they  now  see  was 
begged  in  the  name  of  party  from  the  British  crown; 
we  are  now  electrified  by  bursts  of  indignation  at 
this  first  act  of  degradation  in  the  history  of  Ameri 
can  Diplomacy! 

What  a  spectacle  is  here! — How  long  is  it  since 
he  who  was  the  instrument  to  bow  us  down  before 
Great  Britain,  was  unanimously  confirmed  to  a  post 


13O  APPENDIX. 

of  honor  and  important  trust?  But  the  instrument 
by  whom  he  was  ordered  to  act,  is  to  bear  the  pun 
ishment.  The  author  of  the  instructions,  he  by 
whom  they  were  given,  is  too  high  to  be  reached  at 
present;  the  author  of  the  crime,  he  who  ordered  it, 
escapes — he  who  commits  it,  by  order,  goes  free;  he 
who  conveys  the  order,  answers  for  both,  and  upon 
his  head  falls  all  the  indignation  of  these  incensed 
Senators,  acting  upon  public  grounds,  and  reluctant 
ly  performing  a  PAINFUL — PAINFUL — duty  ! 

Well,  sir,  to  this  degradation.  It  is  found  in  the 
instructions  to  Mr.  McLane;  and  to  make  out  their 
case,  the  honorable  Senators  from  Massachusetts  and 
Kentucky,  have  given  us  a  sketch  of  the  history  of 
the  West  India  negotiation. — Both  brought  down 
itheir  narratives  to  the  taunting  reply  of  Mr.  Canning 
to  Mr.  Gallatin,  given  during  the  late  administration. 
From  this  point,  both  these  honorable  Senators  found 
it  convenient  to  slide — no,  sir,  to  leap  over  all  inter 
vening  events  to  the  instructions  to  Mr.  McLane. 
With  permission,  I  will  fill  up  this  unimportant 
chasm. — The  terms  of  the  British  act  of  Parliament 
not  having  been  accepted  by  the  United  States, 
American  vessels  were  excluded  by  an  order  in  Coun 
cil,  from  the  British  West  India  ports.  Why  this 
important  interest  was  neglected,  we  have  been  just 
told  by  the  Senator  from  Kentucky:  "the  late  admin 
istration  were  ignorant  of  the  act  of  Parliament  until 


APPENDIX. 

it  was  casually  seen  by  them."  "It  was  not  offi 
cially  communicated  by  the  English  Government  to 
our  Government."  "  Even  when  we  were  colonies, 
we  were  not  bound  by  British  acts  of  Parliament, 
unless  specially  named  in  them."  Indeed  :  is  it  pos 
sible  that  the  late  administration  did  not  know  an  act 
of  Parliament  affecting  important  interests?  Where 
were  all  our  accredited  ministers  and  commercial 
agents  in  Great  Britain,  that  this  government  was 
not  informed  of  this  measure,  known' to  all  Europe, 
and  taken  advantage  of  by  most  of  the  powers  in 
terested  in  it.  But  it  was  not  officially  communica 
ted  to  us.  Well,  sir,  was  it  officially  communicated 
to  any  other  Government  interested  in  its  contents 
as  we  were?  The  British  Government,  I  apprehend, 
would  have  considered  such  a  communication  a  gross 
reflection  upon  our  accredited  agents.  It  would  have 
compelled  them  to  say,  in  effect,  we  communicate  to 
you  an  act,  supposing  your  agents  are  too  negligent 
of  their  duty  to  send  it  to  you.  What  were  our 
ministers  and  agents  about,  how  were  they  employ 
ed,  that  they  did  not  send  to  their  Government  this 
important  information? 

But  the  last  excuse  is  worse  than  all ;  "  even  when 
Colonies,  we  were  not  bound  by  acts  of  Parliament 
in  which  we  were  not  named  specially."  What  a 
discovery  !  and  it  is  concluded  from  this  wise  recol 
lection,  that  we  are  not  now  bound  to  take  notice  of 
acts  of  Parliament  not  specially  and  officially  com- 


132  APPENDIX. 

municated  to  us.  I  imagine  we  are  not  bound  by 
them,  communicated  to  us  or  not,  but  we  are  bound 
to  know  all  those  touching  our  interests,  and  any  ad 
ministration  is  severely  reprehensible  for  ignorance 
of  them,  and  for  failing  to  attend  to  those  that  bear 
injuriously  upon  the  interests  of  the  people.  The 
act  was,  however,  at  last  known,  and  when  Mr. 
Gallatin  presented  himself  to  negotiate,  with  instruc 
tions  to  waive  all  claims  that  were  formerly  present 
ed,  and  had  prevented  an  arrangement,  he  was  taunt 
ingly  told,  you  have  lost  your  day  in  court — the  pri 
vilege,  the  boon,  offered,  had  not  been  secured  by 
accepting  the  conditions:  we  have  taken  our  course, 
negociation  is  not  our  plan.  Well,  sir.  what  said  the 
administration  of  which  the  honorable  Senator  from 
Kentucky  formed  a  part?  There  was  an  act  of  Con 
gress,  requiring,  on  the  shutting  of  the  British  West 
India  ports  against  us,  an  interdict  by  proclamation. 
Smarting  under  this  taunting  refusal  to  negociate, 
what  was  done?  The  execution  of  an  act  of  Congress 
positively  directing  the  proclamation,  was  suspend- 
ded  by  executive  authority  for  two  months  before  the 
meeting  of  Congress  and  during  the  whole  succeed 
ing  session,  to  see  if  Congress,  who  had  been  pre 
vented  the  preceding  session  from  legislating — 
the  administration  preferred  the  eclat  of  a  negotia 
tion — could  not  legislate  the  executive  out  of  the  dif 
ficulty  into  which  he  had  placed  the  country  by  negli- 


APPENDIX.  133 

gence,  or  if  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  pleases,  ig 
norance  of  the  act  of  Parliament.  We  all  know  how 
that  effort  terminated.  The  two  houses  disagreed 
about  the  mode  of  effecting  the  purpose:  both,  how 
ever,  willing  to  take  the  privilege  on  the  conditions 
proposed  by  Great  Britain.  The  Senate  passed  a 
bill — the  House,  under  the  influence  of  the  Senator 
from  Massachusetts,  amended,  and  the  question  was, 
whether  one  or  the  other  oblique  path  should  be 
trodden.  The  session  terminated  without  legislative 
enactment,  and  then,  and  not  till  then,  the  proclama 
tion  of  interdiction  was  issued.  Thus,  sir,  smarting 
under  the  taunt  of  the  British  minister,  our  adminis 
tration  left  the  whole  trade  in  the  hands  of  Great 
Britain  of  six  or  eight  months — sought  to  cover  itself 
from  censure  by  invoking  legislative  interposition,  and 
then,  was  compelled  to  act  on  the  suspended  statute. 
The  interdict  being  proclaimed,  the  trade  stood 
upon  the  very  advantageous  footing,  according  to  the 
Senator's  judgment,  which  we  have  lost  by  the  nego 
tiation.  Notwithstanding  we  were  enjoying  such 
eminent  advantages,  the  late  administration,  in  spite 
of  the  taunt,  directed  Mr.  Gallatin  to  try  again  to 
procure  what  is  now  disparaged,  by  opening  the 
door  of  negotiation  after  it  had  been  shut  in  his 
face.  He  was  again  repulsed.  But  this  humiliation 
was  not  enough ;  Mr.  Barbour  was  sent  to  London 
and  he  too  had  his  instructions,  and  went,  cap  in  hand, 
12 


APPENDIX. 

knocked  at  the  closed  door  for  negotiation.  Sir,  he 
knocked  at  the  door  of  the  British  Ministry,  under 
circumstances  humiliating  in  the  extreme.  If  a  gen 
tleman  should  go  a  second  time  to  a  house,  the  pro 
prietor  of  which,  speaking  from  his  window,  had  di 
rected  his  porter  to  deny  him  to  the  visiter,  his  visit 
would  have  been  somewhat  like  Mr.  Barbour's  second 
call.  Yes,  sir,  yet  the  humiliation  was  vain — the  se 
cond  as  fruitless  as  the  first. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  this  question,  when 
General  Jackson  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  coun 
try.  One  of  the  first  objects  of  his  administration, 
was  the  recovery  of  the  British  West  India  trade  j 
an  arrangement  of  it  upon  terms  of  just  reciprocity, 
satisfactory  to  both  parties,  and  therefore,  promising 
to  be  permanent.  Mr.  McLane  was  selected  to  go  to 
England,  and  these  much  abused  instructions  pre 
pared  by  the  late  of  Secretary  of  State.  Let  it  be 
remembered,  sir,  these  are  instructions  from  the  Pre 
sident  of  the  United  States  to  the  American  minister, 
never  intended  for  the  eye  of  the  British  govern 
ment,  and  which  in  no  other  country  but  ours,  would 
ever  have  seen  the  light 

The  opening  of  the  negotiation  was  the  chief  dif 
ficulty.  To  remove  it,  two  grounds  are  taken.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  our  refusal  to  accede  to  the 
terms  of  the  act  of  parliament,  was  made  the  ground 
of  refusing  to  treat  with  Mr.  Gallatin  and  Mr.  Bar- 


APPENDIX.  135 

boar,  both  of  whom  went  prepared  to  offer  an  ar 
rangement  by  reciprocal  legislation,  taking  the  act 
of  parliament  as  the  British  legislation.  To  obviate 
the  difficulty,  after  a  fair  and  full  history  of  the  trans 
action,  these  suggestions  are  presented  to  Mr.  Me- 
Lane,  to  be  pressed  so  far  as  he  might  deem  it  use 
ful  and  proper  so  to  do.  If  the  British  persist  in 
refusing  to  hear  you,  on  this  subject,  remind  them  of 
the  circumstances  that  have  occurred  ;  of  the  differ 
ence  of  opinion  among  ourselves  on  it;  of  the  aban 
donment  by  the  administration  of  those  pretences 
that  had  prevented  an  adjustment  of  it ;  that  they  are 
not  to  be  again  brought  forward  ;  that  the  past  ad 
ministration  was  not  amenable  to  the  British  Gov 
ernment,  nor  to  any  other  than  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  who  had  passed  upon  all  their  acts.— 
Say  to  the  British,  if  it  makes  pretensions  formerly 
advanced,  the  pretext  for  still  declining  to  negotiate, 
the  sensibility  of  the  American  people  will  be  deep 
ly  awakened.  That  the  tone  of  public  feeling  by  a 
course  so  unwise  and  untenable,  will  be  aggravated 
by  the  known  fact  that  Great  Britain  had  opened  her 
colonial  ports  to  Russia  and  France,  notwithstanding 
a  similar  omission  to  accede  on  their  parts,  to  the 
terms  offered  by  the  act  of  Parliament.  And  this, 
sir,  is  represented  as  the  language  of  entreaty,  as  the 
begging  of  a  boon.  This  menace  of  the  public  in 
dignation  :  this  declaration  that  the  late  administra- 


136  APPENDIX. 

tion  was  neither  to  be  censured  or  praised  by  foreign 
nations  ;  was  amenable  for  their  conduct  to  no  earth 
ly  tribunal  but  the  people  of  the  United  States,  is 
tortured  into  a  claim  of  privileges,  on  party  grounds 
for  party  purposes,  and  as  a  disgraceful  attempt  to 
throw  upon  a  previous  administration  unmerited  dis 
grace,  for  the  sake  of  currying  favor  with  a  foreign 
power,  and  that  power  of  all  others,  Great  Britain. 

Great  Britain  could  not  resist  this  frank  and  open 
and  manly  appeal.  Committed  by  their  concession 
in  favor  of  France  and  Russia,  and  the  ministry  dis 
tinctly  told  by  Mr.  McLane,  that  he  would  not  re 
main  if  they  declined  negotiation,  or  placed  their 
refusal  upon  any  other  ground  than  an  open  declara 
tion  that  their  interests  could  not  permit  them  to 
enter  into  a  reciprocal  engagement  with  the  United 
States,  the  English  Cabinet  reluctantly  yielded  ;  and 
then  came  the  most  odious  feature  in  this  transaction, 
that  which  has  sharpened  the  intellect  of  the  oppo 
sition,  to  discover  dishonor  in  truth,  and  a  want  of 
dignity  in  a  frank  exposition  of  facts,  its  crowning 
success.  Mr.  McLane  and  Mr.  Van  Buren,  under 
Gen.  Jackson,  succeeded  in  affecting  an  object  of 
public  solicitude,  that  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Clay  and 
Mr.  Gallatin  and  Mr.  Barbour  could  not  obtain. — 
The  country  was  humiliated  by  the  preceding  admi 
nistration  without  success;  hence  the  charge  against 
Mr,  Van  Buren  ;  hence  the  overwhelming  anxiety  to 


APPENDIX.  137 

prove  that  the  success  of  the  late  negotiation  has  been 
purchased  by  humiliation.  The  British  cabinet  de 
sired  not  to  make  the  arrangement,  it  interfered  with 
great  local  interests,  and  if  they  could,  without  a 
manifest  and  unjust  distinction  to  our  prejudice,  they 
would  have  declined  admitting  the  United  States  lo 
the  privileges  granted  to  the  other  maratime  powers. 
Not  satisfied  with  his  condemnation  of  Mr.  Van 
Buren's  instructions,  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  at 
tempts  to  show  us,  by  referring  to  another  letter  of 
instructions,  how  this  affair  should  have  been  con 
ducted  consistently  with  his  ideas  of  national  honor 
and  dignity.  The  letter  from  which  he  has  read  to 
the  Senate  extracts,  is,  I  think,  signed  H.  Clay.  — 
Will  the  Senator  tell  us  who  is  responsible  for  it  ? — 
If  he  is,  then  he  exhibits  himself  in  the  singular  po 
sition  of  a  man  triumphantly  contrasting  the  work  of 
his  own  hand,  with  that  of  a  rival  author.  The  Se 
nator  knows  that  there  were  two  other  instructions, 
written  by  himself  of  a  subsequent  date,  one  to  Mr. 
Gallatin  after  Congress  failed  to  legislate,  and  ano 
ther  to  Governor  Barbour  ;  neither  of  which  is  be 
fore  us,  therefore,  not  to  be  contrasted  with  Mr. 
Van  Buren's  work.  I  am  content  to  abide  by  the 
result  of  a  contrast  of  the  instructions  he  has  con 
demned,  with  those  he  has  quoted.  Let  u§  see  how 
the  gentleman's  letter  will  bear  the  test  of  examina 
tion.  Mr.  Gallatin,  he  says,  was  not  instructed  to 
12* 


138  APPENDIX. 

abandon  a  right;  we  were  to  be  at  liberty  at  a  more 
convenient  season  to  resume  it.  Mr.  Gallatin  was 
to  give  a  strong  proof  of  our  desire  to  conciliate  by  a 
temporary  concession  of  what  we  had  previously 
claimed  throughout  the  whole  negotiation.  Was 

o  O 

Mr.  Gallatin  instructed  to  say  to  the  British  Govern 
ment,  this  is  a  temporary  concession  ?  No,  sir,  he 
was  authorised  to  waive  the  claim,  and  make  an  ar 
rangement  on  the  British  basis.  Put  this  into  plain 
language,  and  what  was  it;  stript  of  its  diplomatic 
drapery  and  verbiage,  and  it  is  neither  more  nor  Jess 
than  an  abandonment  of  a  pretension,  which,  though 
we  had  supported  by  argument,  we  were  resolved 
not  to  enforce  by  power.  Sir,  this  covering  up  of  a 
plain  truth  is  the  common  trick  of  diplomacy  ;  it  de 
ceives  no  one,  and  had  Mr.  Gallatin  presented  these 
conciliatory  concessions,  they  must  have  been  re 
ceived  as  a  virtual  and  total  abandonment  of  our  pre 
tension.  The  honied  words  of  right  waived  from  a 
conciliatory  spirit,  and  with  the  hope  of  correspond 
ing  friendly  dispositions,  would  have  been  received 
with  a  sneer,  lurking  in  the  official— artificial  smile 
of  a — thorough  bred  diplomatist.  The  Senator,  in 
sists,  however,  it  was  a  right  and  not  a  pretension. — 
If  it  was  a  right,  why  was  it  waived  or  surrendered  ? 
For  conciliation  sake?  Why,  sir,  we  were  the  of 
fended  party.  England  had  taunted  us.  England 
had  refused  once,  twice,  thrice  to  negotiate,  and  yet 


APPENDIX.  139 

to  conciliate  England,,  we  were  waiving  a  well- 
grounded  right  ?  For  what  purpose  were  we  thus 
conciliating?  To  place  the  trade  on  its  present  foot 
ing,  to  the  great  injury  of  the  navigation  and  com 
merce  of  the  United  States.  Such  is  the  view  now 
taken  by  several  honorable  senators  who  have  favor 
ed  us  with  their  opinion  on  this  subject. 

The  present  administration  waived  no  right  for 
conciliation  sake  ;  sacrificed  no  principle.  It  stood 
upon  the  truth,  and  truth  only  ;  and  whatever  may 
be  the  custom  of  others,  and  the  ordinary  usages  of 
diplomacy,  the  administration  was  right.  Nations 
fold  themselves  in  the  robes  of  falsehood,  and  swell 
and  strut  in  vain,  to  preserve  an  air  of  dignity  and 
decorum.  No  nation  ever  was  just  to  its  own  cha 
racter,  or  preserved  its  dignity,  that  did  not  stand  at 
all  times  before  the  world  in  the  sober  and  simple 
garb  of  truth.  Sir,  the  character  of  our  diplomacy 
has  undergone  a  marked  change  ;  we  are  no  longer 
pretenders  to  skill  and  artifice  ;  all  our  wiles  are  facts 
and  reasons — all  our  artifice,  truth  and  justice.  The 
honorable  Senator  tells  us  that  this  instruction  is 
false,  or  else  it  proves  Mr.  V.  B.  to  have  been  crimi 
nally  ignorant  of  what  it  was  his  duty  to  know. — 
How  does  he  make  this  appear  ?  He  alleges  that 
Mr.  V.  B.  charged  the  late  administration  with  be 
ing  the  first  to  advance  the  pretension  it  subsequent 
ly  abandoned— and  this  he  declares  is  untrue,  the 


140  APPENDIX. 

pretension  was  set  up  before  the  late  administration 
came  into  power.  Now,  sir, 'as  I  read  this  paragraph, 
Mr.  V.  B.  does  not  charge  the  late  administration 
with  being  the  first  to  advance  this  pretension.  The 
Senator  will  recollect  this  is  a  letter  to  Mr.  McLane, 
whose  personal  knowledge  is  appealed  to,  and  who 
must  have  understood  the  writer  as  alluding  to  a  fact 
of  general  notoriety.  The  words  are  "  those  who 
first  advanced"  fyc.  have  subsequently  abandoned. 
Can  any  man  mistake  the  meaning — the  meaning 
perfectly  in  accordance  with  the  fact  ?  The  preten 
sion  was  advanced  by  the  use  of  the  famous  elsewhere 
in  our  act  of  Congress,  an  act  known  to  have  been 
penned  by  Mr.  Adams,  who  had  previously  occupied 
the  ground  covered  by  it,  in  his  instructions  to  Mr. 
Rush.  It  was  Mr.  Adams  who  first  advanced  and 
abandoned  this  ground.  The  credit  or  the  odium, 
which  ever  term  belongs  injustice  to  the  act,  attaches 
to  Mr.  Adams,  and  so  Mr.  McLane  could  only  have 
nnderstrod  it,  and  so  must  the  Senator  from  Kentuc 
ky,  if  he  examines  with  a  desire  to  understand  it  in 
the  spirit  of  the  author. 

There  are  considerations  connected  with  Mr.  V.  B. 
if  I  deem  it  consistent  with  his  honor,  that  I  could 
present  to  those  that  hear  me,  that  would  not  fail  to 
make  a  deeper  impression  upon  their  minds.  But  I 
ask  no  remembrance  of  his  forbearance  ;  no  recol 
lection  of  his  magnanimity  ;  I  appeal  to  no  one  to 


APPENDIX.  141 

imitate  his  mildness  and  courtesy  and  kindness  in 
his  deportment  here,  nor  to  judge  him  as  he  judged 
his  rivals  for  fame  and  power.  I  demand  for  him 
nothing  but  justice — harsh — harsh  justice. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 

Letter  of  the  Republican  members  of  the  New- 
York  Legislature,  to  the  President. 

ALBANY,  Feb.  9,  1832. 
To  his  Excellency  ANDREW  JACKSON, 

President  of  the  United  States. 

SIR — The  undersigned  in  the  performance  of  the 
duty  with  which  they  have  been  charged  by  the  re 
publican  members  of  the  legislature  of  the  state  of 
New-York,  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith, 
the  proceedings  of  a  meeting  held  by  them  in  the 
Capitol  of  this  State,  on  the  3d  inst.  In  doing  so, 
they  cannot  restrain  the  expression  of  the  feelings  of 
indignation  with  which  they  view  the  act  to  which 
these  proceedings  refer. 

A  great  majority  of  the  citizens  of  this  State  have 
given  repeated  evidences  of  the  high  estimation  in 
which  they  have  held  your  administration  of  the  af 
fairs  of  the  nation.  The  inflexible  integrity  which 
has  marked  every  act  of  your  public  life— the  mere 
than  military  couarge,  with  which  the  responsibili 
ties  of  your  high  station  have  been  assumed,  and  the 


142  APPENDIX. 

constant  regard  manifested  by  you  to  the  purity  of 
the  Constitution,  have  strengthened  their  attachment 
to  your  person  and  your  government;  and  they 
have  not  been  regardless  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
splendid  career  of  a  military  life,  has  been  followed 
by  the  many  signal  blessings  which  your  civil  admi 
nistration,  has  bestowed  upon  our  country. 

This  State  witnessed  with  pride,  the  selection  of 
Mr.  Van  Buren  by  your  excellency  as  Secretary  of 
State:  Our  citizens  had  given  repeated  evidences 
of  their  confidence  in  him.  With  the  watchfulness 
becoming  a  free  people,  they  had  regarded  his  con 
duct,  in  the  various  stations  to  which  he  had  been 
called  by  the  constituted  authorities  of  the  State.-— 
They  had  witnessed  his  attachment  under  all  circum 
stances,  to  the  principles  of  the  democracy  of  the 
country,  and  they  had  then  recently  evinced  the  ex 
tent  of  their  confidence  by  elevating  him  to  the 
highest  office  within  their  gift.  They  felt  that  your 
Excellency's  removal  of  him  to  a  wider  sphere  was 
an  act  of  justice  at  once  to  his  capacity,  honesty  and 
fidelity  to  the  constitution,  and  to  the  character  of 
this  State  and  the  feelings  of  its  people.  They  cheer 
fully  acquiesced  in  that  removal,  and  freely  surren 
dered  their  most  distinguished  fellow-citizen  to  your 
call,  because  they  recognized  in  it  additional  confir 
mation  of  the  high  hopes  they  had  imbibed  of  the 
character  of  your  administration.  They  saw  with 


APPENDIX.  143 

tindissembled  pleasure,  his  efforts  to  aid  your  Excel 
lency  in  your  successful  attempt  to  restore  the  gov 
ernment  to  its  purity;  and  when  his  withdrawal  from 
the  high  station  to  which  your  partiality  had  exalted 
him,  became  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  your 
peace  against  the  attacks  of  those  who  were  alike 
enemies  to  your  person  and   your  principles,  they 
beheld  in  your  continued  confidence  in  him,  irrefra 
gable  proof,  that  no  combination  could  close  the  eyes 
of  your  Excellency,  to  the  cause  of  your  country, 
and  no  pesonal  considerations  arrest  your  efforts  for 
the  common  welfare.     They  saw,  that  amid  the  as* 
saults  made  upon  your  principles  by  unfaithful  ser 
vants,  the  honor  of  our  country  was  not  lost  to  your 
view,  and  they  felt,  that  the  same  ardent  patriotism, 
which  had  been  manifested  on   the  walls  of  New 
Orleans,  had  been  brought  into  the  administration  of 
the  government     They  saw  and  felt  this,  in  the  ef 
fort  made  by  your  Excellency,  to  acquire  by  frank 
and  honest  negotiation,  that  for  which  we  had  war 
red  with  Great  Britain;  which  had  been  abandoned, 
if  not  surrendered,  by  subtle  diplomacy;  and  upon 
which  your  Excellency,  at  least,  had  not  been  silent. 
The  people  of  this  whole  country,  felt  indeed  that 
their  confidence  in  your  Excellency  was  not  mis 
placed;  for  they  saw  and  knew  that  no  considera 
tions  of  a  private  nature  could  for  a  moment  affect 
your  ardent  desire  to  promote  the  common  weal 


144  APPENDIX. 

It  is  true  they  were  aware  that  there  were -citi 
zens  in  this  Union,  who  could  justify  and  participate 
in  this  surrender  of  "free  trade  and  sailor's  rights," 
who  could  "calculate  the  value  of  the  Union,"  and 
who  could  laugh  at  our  calamities  in  a  period  of  war 
and  general  distress.  But  they  could  not  believe  that 
such  feelings  could  sway  any  branch  of  our  hitherto 
unsullied  government,  and  least  of  all,  that  they 
would  ever  dare  combine  to  impede  the  attempt  of 
your  Excellency,  to  secure  that  for  our  country,  for 
which  we  had  expended  millions  of  our  money,  and 
for  which  thousands  of  our  citizens  had  laid  down 
their  lives. 

Your  Excellency  has  ever  appreciated  the  feelings 
of  the  people  of  this  country,  and  it  will  not  now  be 
difficult  for  you  to  judge  of  those  which  pervade  this 
whole  community,  against  an  act  unprecedented  in  the 
annals  of  our  country;  which  has  impaired  the  hitherto 
exalted  character  of  our  national  Senate — which  has 
insulted  a  Slate  that  yields  to  none  in  attachment  to 
the  Union;  and  which  has  directly  attacked  an  ad 
ministration  that  is  founded  deep  in  the  affections  of 
the  people. 

The  State  of  New-York,  sir,  is  capable  in  itself, 
of  avenging  the  indignity  thus  offered  to  its  charac 
ter,  in  the  person  of  its  favorite  son.  But  we  should 
be  unmindful  of  our  duty,  if  we  failed  in  the  ex 
pression  of  our  sympathy  with  your  Excellency's 


APPENDIX.  145 

feelings  of  mortification,  at  this  degradation  of  the 
country  you  have  loved  so  well.  Yet  be  assured, 
sir,  that  there  is  a  redeeming  spirit  in  the  people, 
and  that  those  whom  we  have  the  honor  to  repre 
sent,  ardently  desire  an  opportunity  of  expressing 
their  undiminished  confidence  in  an  administration, 
which  has  exalted  the  character  of  our  country,  which 
has  restored  the  purity  of  the  government,  and  has 
shed  abroad  upon  the  whole  nation  the  continued 
blessings  of  peace  and  prosperity. 

In  the  fervent  hope,  that  your  Excellency  may 
yet  be  spared  many  years  to  bles^  and  adorn  the  only 
free  nation  upon  earth,  we  remain  your  sincere 
friends,  and  Very  humble  servants, 

N.  P.  TALLMADGE,  THO.  ARMSTRONG, 
LEVI  BEARDSLEY,  JOHN  F.  HUBBARD 
J.  W.  EDMONDS,  E.  LITCH FIELD, 

CH.   L.  LIVINGSTON,     WM.  SEYMOUR, 
G.  OSTRANDER,  AARON  RKMER, 

J.   W.   WILLIAMSON,     JAS.   HUGHSTON, 
PETER  WOOD,  WM.  H.  ANGEL. 

ED.  POWELL, 


THE  PRESIDENT'S  REPLY. 

WASHINGTON,  FEB.  23,  1832. 
Gentlemen  :  I  have  h:id  the  honor  to  receive  your 

letter  of  the  9th  inst.  enclosing  the  resolutions  passed 
13 


146  APPENDIX. 

"  at  a  meeting  of  the  republican  members  of  the  Le 
gislature  of  New  York,"  on  the  rejection  by  the  Se 
nate  of  the  United  States  of  the  nomination  of  Mar 
tin  Van  Buren  as  Minister  to  England. 

I  am  profoundly  grateful  for  the  approbation  which 
that  distinguished  body  of  my  republican  fellow-ci 
tizens  of  New  York  have  on  that  occasion,  been 
pleased  to  express  of  the  past  administration  of  the 
affairs  placed  in  my  charge  by  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  and  for  their  generous  offers  of  con 
tinued  confidence  and  support.  Conscious  of  the 
rectitude  of  my  intentions,  my  reliance  in  all  the 
vicissitudes  of  my  public  life,  has  been  upon  the  vir 
tue  and  patriotism  of  an  enlightened  people. 

Their  generous  support  has  been  my  shield  and 
my  stay,  when,  in  times  past,  the  zealous  perfor 
mance  of  the  arduous  military  duties  allotted  to 
me,  though  crowned  with  success,  tvas  sought  to  be 
made  a  ground  of  reproach  ;  and  this  manifesta 
tion  on  the  part  of  my  fellow -citizens  of  the  great 
State  of  New  York,  assures  me  that  services  not 
less  faithful  in  the  civil  administration  will  not 
be  less  successfully  defended. 

When  such  reliance  fails  the  public  servant,  public 
liberty  will  be  in  danger:  for  if  the  people  become 
insensible  to  indignities  offered  to  those,  who,  with 
pure  intentions  devote  themselves  to  the  advance 
ment  of  the  safety  and  happiness  of  the  country, 


APPENDIX.  147 

public  virtue  will  cease  to  be  respected,  and  public 
trusts  will  be  sought  for  other  rewards  than  those  of 
patriotism. 

I  CANNOT  WITHHOLD  MY  ENTIRE  CONCURRENCE 
WITH  THE  REPUBLICAN  MEMBERS  OF  THE  LEGISLA 
TURE  IN  THEIR  HIGH  ESTIMATION  OP  THEIR  EMI 
NENT  FELLOW  CITIZEN",  WHOM  THEY  HAVE  SO  GE 
NEROUSLY  COME  FORWARD  TO  SUSTAIN.  To  THIS  I 
WILL  ADD  THE  ASSURANCE  OF  MY  UNDIMINSHED  RE 
SPECT  FOR  HIS  GREAT  PUBLIC  AND  PRIVATE  WORTH, 
AND  MY  FULL  CONFIDENCE  IN  THE  INTEGRITY  OF 
HIS  CHARACTER. 

In  calling  him  to  the  department  of  state  from  the 
exalted  station  he  then  occupied  by  the  suffrages  of 
the  people  of  his  native  state,  I  was  not,  influenced 
more  by  his  ocknowledged  talents  and  public  ser 
vices,  than  by  the  general  wish  and  expectation  of 
the  Republican  Party  throughout  the  Union.  The 
signal  ability  and  success  which  distinguished  his  ad 
ministration  of  the  duties  of  that  department,  have 
fully  justified  the  selection. 

I  owe  it  to  the  lale  Secretary  of  State,  to  myself, 
and  to  the  American  people  on  this  occasion  to 
state,  that  as  far  as  is  known  to  me,  he  had  no 
participation  whatever  in  the  occurrences  relative, 
to  myself  and  the  second  officer  of  the  government, 
or  in  the  dissolution  of  the  late  cabinet  ;  and  that 
there  is  no  ground  for  imputing  to  him  the  having 


148  APPENDIX. 

desired  those  removals  from  office  which,  in  the 
discharge  of  my  constitutional  Junctions,  if  was 
deemed  proper  to  make.  JDuring  his  continuance 
in  the  cabinet,  his  exertions  were  directed  to  pro 
duce  harmony  among  its  members;  and  he  UNI 
FORMLY  ENDEAVORED  TO  SUSTAIN  HIS  COLLEAGUES. 
HlS  FINAL  RESIGNATION  WAS  A  SACRIFICE  OF  OFFI 
CIAL  STATION  TO  WHAT  HE  DEEMED  THE  BEST  INTE 
RESTS  OF  THE  COUNTRY. 

Mr.  McLane,  our  then  minister  at  London,  hav 
ing  previously  asked  permission  to  return,  it  was  my 
anxious  desire  to  commit  all  the  important  points  re 
maining  open  in  our  relations  with  Great  Britain,  to 
9  successor  in  whose  peculiar  fitness  and  capacity  I 
had  equal  confidence:  and  to  my  selection  Mr.  Van 
Buren  yielded  a  reluctant  assent.  In  urging  upon 
him  that  sacrifice,  I  did  not  doubt  that  I  was  doing 
the  best  for  the  country,  and  acting  in  coincidence 
with  the  public  wish  ;  and  it  certainly  couid  not 
have  been  anticipated  that,  in  the  manner  of  suc 
cessfully  conducting  and  terminating  an  important 
complex  negotiation,  which  had  previously  receiv 
ed  the  sanction  of  both  houses  of  congress,  there 
would  have  been  found  motives  for  embarrassing  the 
executive  action,  and  for  interrupting  an  important 
foreign  negotiation. 

I  can  never  be  led  to  doubt',  that  in  the  instruc 
tions  under  which  that  negotiation  relative  to  the 


APPENDIX.  149 

trade  with  the  British  West  Indies,  was  conducted 
and  successfully  concluded,  the  people  of  the  Uni 
ted  States  will  find  nothing  either  derogatory  to 
the  national  dignity  and  honor,  or  improper  for 
such  an  occasion. 

Those  parts  of  the  instructions  which  have  been 
used  to  justify  the  rejection  of  Mr.  Van  JBureri's 
nomination  by  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
proceeded  from  my  own  suggestion  ;  were  the  re 
sult  of  my  own  deliberate  investigation  and  reflec 
tion  ;  and  now,  as  when  they  were  dictated,  ap 
pear  to  me  to  be  entirely  proper  and  consonant  to 
my  public  duty. 

/  feel,  gentlemen,  that  I  am  incapable  of  tar 
nishing  the,  pride,  or  dignity  of  that  country ,  ivhose 
glory,  both  in  the  field  and  in  the  civil  administra 
tion  it  has  been  my  object  to  elevate  :  and  I  feel 
assured  that  the  exalted  attitude  which  the  Ameri 
can  people  maintain  abroad,  and  the  prosperity 
with  which  they  are  blessed  at  home,  fully  attest 
that  their  honor  and  happiness  have  been  unsullied 
in  my  hands. 

A  participation  in  the  trade  with  the  British  West 
India  Islands,  upon  terms  mutually  satisfactory  to  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain,  had  been  an  object 
of  constant  solicitude  with  our  government  from  its 
origin.  During  the  long  and  vexatious  history  of 
this  subject,  various  propositions  had  been  made  with 


15O  APPENDIX. 

but  partial  success;  and  in  the  administration  of  my 
immediate  predecessor,  more  than  one  attempt  to 
adjust  it  had  ended  in  a  total  interruption  of  the  trade. 

The  acknowledged  importance  of  this  branch  of 
trade,  the  influence  it  was  believed  to  have  had  in 
the  elections  which  terminated  in  the  change  of  the 
administration,  and  the  general  expectation  on  the  part 
of  the  people,  that  renewed  efforts,  on  frank  and 
decisive  grounds,  might  be  successfully  made  to  re 
cover  it,  imposed  upon  me  the  duty  of  undertaking 
the  task. 

Recently,  however,  Great  Britain  had  more  than 
once  declined  renewing  the  negotiation,  and  placed 
her  refusal  upon  the  objections  which  she  thought 
proper  to  take  to  the  manner  of  our  previous  nego 
tiation,  and  to  the  claims  which  had  at  various  limes 
been  made  upon  the  part  of  our  government. 

The  American  government,  notwithstanding,  con 
tinued  its  efforts  to  obtain  a  participation  in  the  trade. 
It  waived  the  claims  at  first  insisted  upon,  as  well  as 
the  objection  to  the  imposition  by  Great  Britain  of 
higher  duties  upon  the  produce  of  the  United  States 
when  imported  into  the  West  Indies,  than  upon  the 
produce  of  her  own  possessions,  which  objection  had 
been  taken  in  1819  in  a  despatch  of  the  then  Secre 
tary  of  State. 

A  participation  in  the  trade  with  the  British  West 
India  Islands  could  not  have  been,  at  any  time,  de- 


APPENDIX.  J51 

manded  as  a  right  any  more  than  in  that  to  the  Bri 
tish  European  ports.  In  the  posture  of  affairs  already 
adverted  to,  therefore,  the  Executive  could  ask  no 
thing  more  than  to  be  permitted  to  engage  in  it  upon 
the  terms  assented  to  by  his  predecessor,  and  which 
were  the  same  as  those  previously  offered  by  Great 
Britain  herself.  Even  these  had  been  denied  to  the 
late  administration,  and  for  reasons  arising  from  the 
views  entertained  by  the  British  government  of  our 
conduct  in  the  past  negotiation. 

It  was  foreseen  that  this  refusjl  might  be  repeated 
and  on  the  same  grounds.  When  it  became  the  duty 
of  the  Executive,  rather  than  disappoint  the  expecta 
tions  of  the  people  and  wholly  abandon  the  trade,  to 
continue  the  application,  it  was  proper  to  meet  the 
objection  to  the  past  acts  of  the  American  adminis 
tration,  which  objection,  as  had  been  foreseen,  was 
actually  made  and  for  some  time  insisted  upon. 

It  is  undoubtedly  the  duty  of  all  to  sustain,  by  an 
undivided  and  patriotic  front,  the  action  of  the  con 
stituted  authorities  towards  foreign  nations :  and  this 
duty  requires,  that  during  the  continuance  of  an  ad 
ministration  in  office,  nothing  should  be  done  to  em 
barrass  the  Executive  intercourse  in  its  foreign  poli 
cy,  unless  upon  a  conviction  that  it  is  erroneous.  A 
thorough  change  in  the  administration,  however, 
raises  up  other  authorities  of  equal  dignity,  and 
equally  entitled  to  respect :  and  an  open  adoption  of 


152  APPENDIX. 

a  different  course  implies  ric  separation  of  the  diffe 
rent  parts  of  the  government :  nor  does  an  admission 
of  the  inexpediency  or  impracticability  of  previous 
demands  imply  any  want  of  respect  for  those  who 
may  have  maintained  them. 

To  defend  the  claims,  or  pretensions,  as  ihey 
had  been  indiscriminately  called,  on  either  side,  in 
the  previous  correspondence,  which  had  been  for  a 
time  urged  by  the  late  administration,  would  have 
been  to  defend,  what  that  administration  by  waiv 
ing  them,  had  admitted  to  be  untenable,  and  if 
that  which  had  been  by  them  conceded  to  be  inex 
pedient,  could  not  be  sustained  as  proper,  I  perceive 
nothing  derogatory,  and  surely  nothing  turong,  in 
conducting  the  negotiation  upon  the  common  and 
established  principle,  that  in  a  change  of  adminis 
tration  there  may  be  a  corresponding  change  in  the 
policy  and  counsels  of  the  government.  This  prin 
ciple  exists  and  is  acted  upon,  in  the  diplomatic  and 
public  transactions  of  all  nations.  The  fact  of  its 
existence  in  the  recent  change  of  the  administration 
of  the  American  government,  was  as  notorious  as  the 
circulation  of  the  American  press  could  make  it  ; 
and  while  its  influence  upon  the  policy  of  foreign  na 
tions  was  both  natural  and  reasonable,  it  was  proper, 
according  to  my  sense  of  duty,  frankly  to  avow  it,  if 
the  interests  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  should 
so  require. 


APPENDIX.  153 

Such  was  the  motive,  and  such  and  nothing  more, 
is  the  true  import  of  the  instructions,  taken  as  a  whole, 
which  I  directedd  to  be  given  to  our  minister  at  Lon 
don,  and  which  neither  expressed  nor  implied  con 
demnation  of  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
nor  of  the  late  administration,  further  than  had  been 
implied  by  their  own  acts  of  admission. 

I  could  not  reconcile  it  to  my  sense  of  public  duty, 
or  of  the  national  dignity,  that  the  United  States 
should  suffer  continued  injury  or  injustice,  because  a 
former  administration  had  insisted  upon  terms  which 
it  had  subsequently  waived,  or  had  failed  seasonably 
to  accept  an  offer  which  it  had  afterwards  been  wil 
ling  to  embrace.  The  conduct  of  previous  adminis 
trations  was  not  to  be  discussed  either  for  censure  or 
defence  ;  and  only  in  case  Cl  the  omissions  of  this 
government  to  accept  of  the  terms  proposed  when 
heretofore  offered,"  should  <fcbe  urged  as  an  objec 
tion  now,"  it  was  made  the  duty  of  the  minister  •*  to 
make  the  British  government  sensible  of  the  injus 
tice  and  inexpediency  of  such  a  course." 

Both  the  right  and  the  propriety  of  setting  up  the 
past  acts  of  previous  administrations  to  justify  the 
exclusion  of  the  United  States  from  a  trade  allowed 
to  all  other  nations,  was  distinctly  denied,  and  the 
instructions  authorised  the  minister  to  state  that  such 
a  course  towards  the  United  States  "  under  existing 
circumstances,  would  be  unjust  in  itself,  and  could 


154  APPENDIX. 

not  fail  to  excite  the  deepest  sensibility — the  tone  of 
feeling  which  a  course  so  unwise  and  untenable  is 
calculated  to  produce,  would  doubtless  be  greatly  ag 
gravated  by  the  consciousness  that  Great  Britain  has, 
by  orders  in  council,  opened  her  colonial  ports  to 
Russia  and  France,  notwithstanding  a  similar  omis 
sion  on  their  part  to  accept  the  terms  offered  by  the 
act  of  the  5th  July,  1825  ;" — he  was  told  that  "  he 
could  not  press  this  view  of  the  subject  too  earnestly 
upon  the  consideration  of  the  British  ministry  ;"  and 
the  prejudicial  influence  of  a  course  on  the  part  of  the 
British  Government  so  unwise  and  unjust  upon  the 
future  relations  of  the  two  countries,  was  clearly  an 
nounced  in  the  declaration  that  "it  has  bearings  and 
relations  that  reach  beyond  the  immediate  question 
under  discussion." 

If  the  British  government  should  decline  an  ar 
rangement  "on  the  ground  of  a  change  of  opinion, 
or  in  order  to  promote  her  own  interests."  a  prompt 
avowal  of  that  purpose  was  demanded  ;  but  if  they 
should  not  be  prepared  to  take  that  ground,  "  but 
suffer  themselves  to  desire  that  the  United  States 
should,  in  expiation  of  supposed  past  encroachments, 
be  driven  to  the  necessity  of  retracing  their  legisla 
tive  steps,  without  knowledge  of  its  effect,  and  whol 
ly  dependent  upon  the  indulgence  of  Great  Britain  ;" 
they  were  to  be  made  sensible  of  the  impracticability 
of  that  course,  and  to  be  taught  to  expect  such  mea- 


APPENDIX.  |55 

sures  on  our  part  as  would  vindicate  our  national  in 
terest  and  honor.  To  announce  distinctly  to  Great 
Britain  that  we  would  not  submit  to  a  continued  in 
justice,  on  the  ground  of  any  objection  to  the  past 
conduct  of  the  American  government,  whether  it 
were  right  or  wrong,  was  the  obvious  import  of  the 
whole  instructions. 

If  the  Executive  had  caused  it  to  be  stated  to 
Great  Britain,  that  finding  his  predecessors  to  have 
been  in  error,  as  was  implied  by  subsequently  waiv 
ing  the  terms  they  had  advocated,  and  had,  in  expia 
tion  of  those  errors,  abandoned  the  trade  to  the  plea 
sure  of  the  British  Government,  the  interests  of  the 
United  States  would  have  suffered,  and  their  honor 
been  reproached  ;  but  in  excluding  such  considera 
tions,  as  inappropriate  and  unjust,  and  in  clearly 
avowing  his  purprse  not  to  submit  to  that  treatment, 
he  hoped  to  promote  the  interests  of  his  fellow-citi 
zens,  and  sustain  the  honor  and  dignity  of  the  coun 
try. 

In  all  this,  gentlemen,  I  have  the  approbation  of 
my  judgment  and  conscience.  Acting  upon  the 
principle,  early  announced,  of  asking  nothing  but 
what  is  right,  and  submitting  to  nothing  that  is 
wrong,  I  asked  that  only  of  which  the  justice  could 
not  be  denied.  I  asked  a  participation  in  the  trade, 
upon  terms  just  to  the  United  States,  and  mutually 
advantageous  to  both  countries.  I  directed  a  simple 


156  APPENDIX. 

and  distinct  proposition  in  conformity  with  these 
principles,  to  be  submitted  to  the  British  govern 
ment,  and,  resolving  to  be  contented  with  nothing 
less,  I  ultimately  arranged  the  trade  upon  the  basis 
of  that  proposition,  without  retraction,  modification, 
or  change. — If  the  national  honor  had  not  been 
thought  tarnished  by  retracing  our  steps,  by  claim 
ing  more  and  ultimately  consenting  to  take  less, 
and  in  J act  obtaining  nothing  ;  I  feel  assured,  that 
in  requiring  that  which  my  predecessors  had  con 
ceded  to  be  enough;  and  obtaining  all  that  was  de 
manded,  my  countrymen  will  see  no  stain  upon  their 
dignity,  their  pride,  or  their  honor. 

If  I  required  greater  satisfaction  than  I  derive  from 
a  review  of  this  subject,  I  shall  find  it  in  the  grati 
tude  I  feel  for  the  success  which  has  crowned  my 
efforts.  I  shall  always  possess  the  gratifying  recol 
lection,  that  J  have  not  disappointed  the  expecta 
tions  of  my  countrymen,  who,  under  an  arrange 
ment  depending  for  its  permanence  upon  our  own 
wisdom,  are  participating  in  a  valuable  trade  upon 
terms  more  advantageous  than  those  which  the  illus 
trious  Father  of  his  Country  was  willing  to  accept  ; 
upon  terms  as  favorable  as  those  which  regulate  the 
trade  under  our  conventions  with  Graat  Britain,  and 
which  have  been  sought  without  success  from  the 
earliest  periods  of  our  history. 

I  pray  you,  gentlemen,  to  present  to  the  republi- 


APPENDIX. 

can  members  of  the  legislature  of  New  York,  and  to 
accept  for  yourselves  individually,  the  assurance  of 
my  highest  regard  and  consideration. 

ANDREW  JACKSON. 

Massrs.  N.  P.  Tallmadge,  Thomas  Arm 
strong1,  I.evi  Beardslcy,  John  F  Hub- 
bard,  J.  W.  Edmonds,  Chas.  L.  Li 
vingston,  Gideon  Ostrander,  John  M. 
Williamson,  Peter  Wood,  E  Howell, 
Elisha  Litchfield,  Willi.im  Seymour, 
Aaron  Remer,  Jas.  Hugliston,  VVm. 
H.  Anarel. 


Address  of  Mr.  VAN  BFJREN,  Vice  President  q/ 
the  United  Slates,  on  taking  the  Chair  of  the 
Senate,  as  its  presiding  officer,  on  Monday,  De 
cember  16,  1833. 

SENATORS:  On  entering  on  the  duliesofthe  sta 
tion  to  which  I  have  been  called  by  the  People,  de 
ference  to  you  and  justice  to  myself  require  that  I 
should  forestall  expectations  which  might  otherwise 
be  disappointed.  Although  for  many  years  hereto 
fore  a  member  of  the  Senate,  I  regret  that  I  should 
not  have  acquired  that  knowledge  of  the  particular 
order  of  its  proceedings  which  might  naturally  be  ex 
pected.  Unfortunately  for  me,  in  respect  to  my  pre 
sent  condition,  1  ever  found  those  at  hand  who  had 
more  correctly  appreciated  this  important  branch  of 
their  duties,  and  on  whose  opinions,  as  to  points  of 
14 


158  APPENDIX. 

order,  I  could  at  all  times  safely  rely.  This  remiss- 
ness  will,  doubtless,  for  a  season,  cause  me  no  small 
degree  of  embarrassment.  So  far,  however,  as  un 
remitting  exertions  on  my  part,  and  proper  respect 
for  the  advice  of  those  who  ;ire  better  informed  than 
myself,  can  avail,  this  deficiency  will  be  remedied  as 
speedily  as  possible;  and  I  feel  persuaded  that  the 
Senate,  in  the  mean  time,  will  extend  to  me  a  con 
siderate  indulgence. 

But  however  wanting  I  may  be,  for  the  time,  in  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  technical  duties  of  the 
Chair,  I  entertain,  I  humbly  hope,  a  deep  and  so 
lemn  conviction  of  its  high  moral  obligations.  I  am 
well  aware  that  he  who  occupies  it,  is  hound  to  cher 
ish  towards  the  membeis  of  the  body  over  which 
he  presides,  no  other  feeling  than  those  of  justice 
and  courtesy — to  regard  them  all  as  standing  upon 
an  honorable  equality — to  apply  the  rules  establish 
ed  by  themselves,  for  their  own  government,  with 
strict  impartiality — and  to  use  whatever  authority 
he  possesses  in  the  manner  best  calculated  to  protect 
the  rights,  to  respect  the  feelings,  and  to  guard  the 
reputations  of  all  who  may  be  affected  by  its  ex 
ercise. 

It  is  no  disparagement  to  any  other  branch  of  the 
Government  to  say,  that  there  is  none  on  which  the 
Constitution  devolves  such  extensive  powers  as  it 
does  upon  the  Senate.  There  is  scarcely  an  exercise 


APPENDIX. 

of  constitutional  authority  in  which  it  does  not  me 
diately  or  immediately  participate  ;  it  forms  an  im 
portant  and,  in  some  respects,  an  indispensible  part 
of  each  of  the  three  great  departments,  Executive, 
Legislative,  and  Judicial;  and  is  moreover,  the  body 
in  which  is  made  effectual,  that  share  of  power  in 
the  Federal  organization  so  wisely  allowed  to  the  re 
spective  State  sovereignties. 

Invested  with  such  august  powers,  so  judiciously 
restricted,  and  so  sagely  adapted  to  the  purposes  of 
good  government,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  Senate  is 
regarded  by  the  people  of  the  United  States,  as  one 
of  the  best  features,  in  what  they  at  least  consider  to 
be  the  the  wisest,  the  freest,  and  happiest  political 
system  in  the  world.  In  fervent  wishes  that  it  may 
long  continue  to  be  so  regarded,  and  in  a  conviction, 
of  the  importance  of  order,  propriety,  and  regularity 
in  its  proceedings,  we  must  all  concur.  It  shall  be 
an  object  of  my  highest  ambition,  Senators,  to  join 
with  you,  as  far  as  in  me  lies,  in  effecting  those  de 
sirable  objects;  and  in  endeavoring  to  realize  the  ex 
pectation  formed  of  this  body  at  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution,  and  ever  since  confidently  cherished, 
that  it  would  exercise  the  most  efficient  influence  in 
upholding  the  Federal  system,  and  in  perpetuating 
what  is  at  once  the  foundation  and  the  safeguard  of 
our  country's  welfare,  the  Union  of  the  States. 


1(30  APPENDIX. 

MR.  BENTON'S  LETTER. 

To  Maj.  Gen.  Davis,,  of  the  State  of  Mississippi, 
declining  ike  nomination  of  the  Convention  of 
that  State  for  the  Vice  Presidency  ;  defending  the 
'nomination  of  Mr.  Van  .Burenfor  the  Presiden 
cy  ;  and  recommending  harmony r,  concert,  and 
union,  to  the  democratic  party  of  the  U.  States. 

WASHINGTON  CITY,  January  1st,  1835. 
DEAR  SIR, — We  have  learned  that  you  have  de 
clined  permitting  your  name  to  be  used  as  a  candi 
date  for  the  Vice-Presidency  of  the   United   Stales, 
and  that  you   have   addressed  a  letter  to  that  effect, 
some  time  since,  to  the  Committee  of  the  State  Con 
vention  of  Mississippi,   by  whom    you   were  nomi 
nated  for  that  high  office.     It  will  be  a  considerable 
time    before     your    determination,  •-  communicated 
through  that  channel,  can  be  known  to  the  people  of 
the  United  States;  we  therefore  request  the  favor  of 
a  cop}7  of  your  letter,  if  you  retained  one,  for  pub 
lication  at  this  place,  in  older  that  your  friends  else 
where,  as  well   as  in  Mississippi,  may  have  an  early 
opportunity  of  turning  their  attention  to  some  other 
suitable  person.     Yours,  with  great  respect, 
ROHT.  T.  LYTLE,  (of  Ohio,) 
HENRY  I-IUHHARD,  (of  New  Hampshire,) 
RATL1FF   HOUiN,  (of  Indiana,) 
H.  A.  MUHLENBERG,  (of  Pennsylvania.) 
Honorable  Tuos.  H.  BENTON. 


APPENDIX.  161 

WASHINGTON  CITY,  January  2d,  1835. 
GENTLEMEN, — I  herewith  send  you  a  copy  of  my 
letter,  declining  the  nomination  of  the  Mississippi 
State  Convention,  for  the  Vice-Presidency  of  the 
United  States.  Fairness  towards  my  political  friends 
in  every  part  of  the  Union,  required  me  to  let  them 
know  at  once  what  my  determination  was;  and  this 
I  have  done  in  many  private  letters,  and  in  all  the 
conversations  which  I  have  held  upon  the  subject. — 
The  nomination  in  Mississippi  was  the  first  one 
which  came  from  a  State  Convention,  and  therefore 
the  first  one  which  seemed  to  me  to  justify  a  public 
letter,  and  to  present  the  question  in  such  a  form  as 
would  save  me  from  the  ridicule  of  declining  what  no 
State  had  offered.  The  letter  to  Mississippi  was  in 
tended  for  publication,  to  save  my  friends  any  fur 
ther  trouble  on  my  account.  It  was  expected  to 
reach,  in  its  circuit,  my  friends  in  every  quarter  ; 
and  as  you  suggest  that  it  might  be  a  considerable 
time  before  it  could  return  from  the  State  of  Missis 
sippi  through  the  newspapers,  and  that  in  the  mean 
time,  my  friends  elsewhere,  might  wish  earlier  in 
formation,  that  they  might  turn  their  attention  to 
some  other  person,  I  cheerfully  comply  with  your 
request,  and  furnish  the  copy  for  publication  here. 
Yours,  respectfully, 

THOMAS  H.  BENTON. 
Messrs.  R.  T.  Lytle,  H.  Hubbard,  R.  Boon, 
and  H.  J2.  Muhlenberg.  14* 


1(52  APPENDIX. 

MR.  BENTON'S  LETTER. 
WASHINGTON  CITY,  Dec.  16th,  1834. 

DEAR  SIR  :  Your  kind  letter  of  the  8th  ultimo  has 
been  duly  received,  and  I  take  great  pleasure  in  re 
turning  you  my  thanks  for  the  friendship  you  have 
shown  me,  and  which  I  shall  he  happy  to  acknow 
ledge  by  acts,  rather  than  words,  whenever  an  op 
portunity  shall  occur.  * 

The  recommendation  for  the  Vice-Presidency  of 
the  United  States,  which  the  Democratic  Convention 
of  your  State  has  done  me  the  honor  to  make,  is,  in 
the  highest  degree,  flattering  and  honorable  to  me, 
and  commands  the  expression  of  my  deepest  grati 
tude  ;  but,  justice  to  myself,  and  to  our  political 
friends,  requires  me  to  say  at  once,  and  with  the  can 
dor  and  decision  which  rejects  all  disguise,  and  pal 
ters  with  no  retraction,  that  I  cannot  consent  to  go 
upon  the  list  of  candidates  for  the  eminent  office  for 
which  I  have  been  proposed. 

I  consider  the  ensuing  election  for  President,  and 
Vice-President,  as  one  among  the  most  important 
that  ever  took  place  in  our  country  ;  ranking  with 
that  of  1SOO,  when  the  democratic  principle  first 
triumphed  in  the  person  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  with 
the  two  elections  of  1828,  and  1832,  when  the  same 
principle  again  triumphed  in  the  person  of  General 
Jackson  ;  and  I  should  look  upon  all  the  advantages 
recovered  for  the  constitution,  and  the  people,  in 


APPENDIX. 

these  two  last  triumphs,  as  lost  and  gone,  unless  the 
democracy  of  the  Union  shall  again  triumph  in  the 
election  of  1836.  To  succeed  in  that  election,  will 
require  the  most  perfect  harmony  and  union  among 
ourselves.  To  secure  this  union  and  harmony,  we 
must  have  as  few  aspirants  for  the  offices  of  President, 
and  Vice  President,  as  possible  ;  and  to  diminish  the 
number  of  these  aspirants,  I,  for  one,  shall  refuse  to 
go  upon  the  list :  and  will  remain  in  the  ranks  of  the 
voters,  ready  to  support  the  cause  of  democracy,  by 
supporting  the  election  of  the  candidates  which  shall 
be  selected  by  a  general  convention  of  the  democra 
tic  party. 

But,  while  respectfully  declining,  for  myself,  the 
highly  honorable  and  flattering  recommendation  of 
your  convention,  I  take  a  particular  pleasure  in  ex 
pressing  the  gratification  which  I  feel,  at  seeing  the 
nomination  which  you  have  made  in  favor  of  Mr. 
Van  Buren.  I  have  known  that  gentleman  long, 
and  intimately.  We  entered  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  together,  thirteen  years  ago,  sat  six 
years  in  seats  next  to  each  other,  were  always  per 
sonally  friendly,  generally  acted  together  on  leading 
subjects,  and  always  interchanged  communications, 
and  reciprocated  confidence  ;  and  thus,  occupying  a 
position  to  give  me  an  opportunity  of  becoming  tho 
roughly  acquainted  with  his  principles,  and  charac 
ter,  the  result  of  the  whole  has  been,  that  I  have  long 


164  APPENDIX. 

since  considered  him,  and  so  indicated  him  to  my 
friends,  as  the  most  fit,  and  suitable  person  to  fill  the 
presidential  chair  after  the  expiration  of  President 
Jackson's  second  term.  In  political  principles  he  is 
thoroughly  democratic,  and  comes  as  near  the  Jeffer- 
sonian  standard  as  any  statesman  now  on  the  stage  of 
public  life.  In  abilities,  experience,  and  business 
habits,  he  is  beyond  the  reach  of  cavil  or  dispute.-*- 
Personally,  he  is  inattackable ;  for  the  whole  volume 
of  his  private  life  contains  not  a  single  act  which  re 
quires  explanation,  or  defence.  In  constitutional 
temperament  he  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  station, 
and  the  times;  for  no  human  being  could  be  more 
free  from  every  taint  of  envy,  malignity,  or  revenge, 
r,  could  possess,  in  a  more  eminent  degree,  that 
happy  conjunction  of  firmness  of  purpose,  with  sua 
vity  of  manners,  which  contributes  so  much  to  the 
successful  administration  of  public  affairs,  and  is  so 
essential,  and  becoming,  in  a  high  public  functionary. 
The  State  from  which  he  comes,  and  of  which,  suc 
cessive  elections  for  two  and  twenty  years  prove  him 
to  be  the  favorite  son,  is  also  to  be  taken  into  the  ac 
count  in  the  list  of  his  recommendations  ;  that  great 
State  which,  in  the  eventful  struggle  of  1SOO,  turned 
the  scales  of  the  presidential  election  in  favor  of 
Mr.  Jefferson, — which  has  supported  every  demo 
cratic  administration  from  that  day  to  this;  a  State 
which  now  numbers  two  millions  of  inhabitants, — 


APPENDIX.  163 

gives  forty-two  votes  in  the  presidential  election, — 
and  never  saw  one  of  her  own  sons  exalted  to  the  pre 
sidential  office. 

But  what  has  he  done?  What  has  Mr.  Van  Buren 
done,  that  he  should  be  elected  President  ?  This  is 
the  inquiry,  as  flippantly,  as  ignorantly  put  by  those 
who  would  veil,  or  disparage  the  merits  of  this 
gentleman  ;  when  it  would  be  much  more  regular 
and  pertinent  to  ask,  what  has  such  a  man  as  this 
done,  that  he  should  not  be  made  President? — But, 
to  answer  the  inquiry  as  put:  It  might  perhaps  be 
sufficient,  so  far  at  least  as  the  comparative  merits  of 
competitors  are  concerned,  to  point  to  his  course  in 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States  during  the  eight 
years  that  he  sat  in  that  body  ;  and  to  his  conduct 
since  in  the  high  offices  to  which  he  has  been  call 
ed  by  his  native  State,  by  President  Jackson,  and  by 
the  American  people.  This  might  be  sufficient  be 
tween  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  others  ;  but  it  would  not 
be  sufficient  for  himself.  Justice  to  him  would  re 
quire  an  answer  to  go  further  back, — to  the  war  of 
1S12,  when  he  was  a  member  of  the  New  York  Se 
nate  ;  when  the  fate  of  Mr.  Madison's  administra 
tion,  and  of  the  Union  itself,  depended  upon  the 
conduct  of  that  great  State — great  in  men  and  means, 
and  greater  in  position,  a  frontier  to  New  England, 
and  to  Canada — to  Briti:>h  arms  and  Hartford  Con 
vention  treason ;  and  when  that  conduct,  to  the  dis- 


166  APPENDIX. 

may  of  every  patiotic  bosom,  was  seen  to  bang,,  for 
nearly  two  years,  in  the  doubtful  scales  of  sixpence. 
The  federalists  had  the  majority  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  ;  the  democracy  had  the  Senate  and 
the  Governor;  and  for  two  success! v?e  sessions  no 
measure  could  be  adopted  in  support  of  the  war. — 
Every  aid  proposed  by  the  Governor  and  Senate, 
was  rejected  by  the  House  of  Representatives  — 
Every  State  paper  issued  by  one,  was  answered  by 
the  oiher.  Continual  disagreements  took  place  ;  in 
numerable  conferences  were  had  ;  the  Ha!l  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  was  the  scene  of  contesta 
tion  ;  and  every  conference  was  a  public  exhibition 
of  parliamentary  conflict — a  public  trial  of  intellec 
tual  digladiation.  in  which  each  side,  represented  by 
committees  of  its  ablest  men,  and  in  the  presence  of 
both  houses,  and  of  assembled  multitudes,  exerted 
itself  to  Die  utmost  to  justify  itself,  and  to  put  the 
other  in  the  wrong,  to  operate  upon  public  opinion, 
govern  the  impending  elections,  and  acquire  the  as 
cendency  in  the  ensuing  legislature.  Mr.  Van  Bu- 
ren,  then  a  young  man,  had  just  entered  the  Senate 
at  the  commencement  of  this  extraordinary  struggle. 
He  entered  it,  November  1S12  ;  and  had  just  dis 
tinguished  himself  in  the  opposition  of  his  county  to 
the  first  national  bank  charter — in  the  support  of 
Vi^e  President  Clinton  for  giving  the  casting  vote 
against  it — and  in  his  noble  support  of  Governor 


APPENDIX. 

Tompkins,  for  his  Roman  energy  in  proroguing  the 
General  Assembly,  (April,  1812,)  which    could  not 
otherwise  be  prevented  from  receiving  and  embody 
ing  the  transmigratory  soul  of   that  defunct  institu 
tion,  and  giving  it  a  new  existence,  in  a  new  place, 
under  an  altered  name  and  modified  form.     He  was 
politically  born  out  of  this  conflict,  and  came  into  the 
legislature  against  the  bank,  and  for  the  war.     He 
was  the  man  which  the  occasion  required  ;  the  ready 
writer — prompt  debater — judicious  counsellor  ;  cour 
teous    in    manners — firm   in    purpose — inflexible    in 
principles.      He   contrived     tbe    measures — brought 
forward  the  bills  and  reports — delivered  the  speeches 
— and  drew  the  State  papers,  (especially  the  power 
ful  address  to    the  republican   voters   of   the  State,) 
which  eventually  vanquished  the  federal  party,  turn 
ed  the  doubtful   scales,    and    gave    the  elections  of 
April,  1S14,  to  the  friends   and   supporters  of  Madi 
son  and  the  war;   an  event,  the  intelligence  of  which 
was  received  at  Washington  with  an  exultation  only 
inferior  to  that  with  which  was  received  the  news  of 
the  victory  of  New  Orleans.     The  new  legislature, 
now  democratic  in  both  branches,  was  quickly  con 
vened  by  Governor  Tompkins  ;  and  Mr.  Van  Buren 
had  the  honor  to  bring  forward,  and   carry  through, 
amidst  the  applauses  of  patriots,  and  the  denunciation 
of  the  anti-war  party,  the  most  energetic   war   mea 
sure  ever  adopted  in  our  America — the  classification 


1G8  APPENDIX, 

bill,  as  he  called  it,  the  conscription  bill,  as  they 
called  it.  By  this  bill,  the  provisions  of  which,  by 
a  new  and  summary  process,  were  so  contrived  as  to 
act  upon  property,  as  \ve!l  as  upon  persons,  an  army 
of  twelve  thousand  state  troops  were  immediately  to 
be  raised  ;  to  serve  for  two  years,  and  to  be  placed 
at  the  disposition  of  the  General  Government,  The 
peace  which  was  signed  in  the  last  days  of  Deeeml  er, 
1814,  rendered  this  great  measure  of  New  York  in 
operative  ;  but  its  merit  was  acknowledged  by  all 
patriots  at  the  time  ;  the  principle  of  it  was  adopted 
by  Mr.  Madison's  administration  ;  recommended  by 
the  Secretary  at  War,  Mr.  Monroe,  to  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States,  and  found  by  that  body  too 
energetic  to  be  passed.  »  To  complete  his  course  in 
support  of  the  war,  and  to  crown  his  meritorious  la 
bors  to  bring  it  to  a  happy  close,  it  became  Mr.  Van 
Buren's  fortune  to  draw  up  the  vote  of  thanks  of  the 
greatest  State  of  the  Union,  to  the  greatest  General 
which  the  war  had  produced — "  I. he  thanks  of 
the  New  York  legislature  to  Major  General  JACK 
SON,  his  gallant  officers  and  troops,  for  tlie'n  won 
derful  >  and  heroic  victory ,  in  defence  of  the  grand 
emporium  of  the  West"  Such  was  the  appropriate 
conclusion  to  his  patriotic  services  in  support  of  the 
war:  services,  to  be  sure,  not  rivalling  in  splendor 
the  heroic  achievements  of  victorious  arms;  but  ser 
vices,  nevertheless,  both  honorable,  and  meritorious 


APPENDIX.  169 

in  their  place ;  and  without  which  battles  cannot  be 
fought,  victories  cannot  be  won,  nor  countries  be 
saved.  Martial  renown,  it  is  true,  he  did  not  ac 
quire,  nor  attempt ;  but  the  want  of  that  fascination 
to  his  name  can  hardly  be  objected  to  him,  in  these 
days,  when  the  political  ascendency  of  military 
chieftains  is  so  pathetically  deplored,  and  when  the 
entire  perils  of  the  republic  are  supposed  to  be  com 
pressed  into  the  single  danger  of  a  military  despotism. 

Such  is  the  answer,  in  brief,  and  in  part,  to  the 
flippant  inquiry,  What  has  he  done? 

The  vote  in  the  Senate,  for  the  tariff  of  182S,  has 
sometimes  been  objected  to  Mr.  Van  Buren;  but 
with  how  much  ignorance  of  the  truth,  let  facts  at 
test. 

He  was  the  first  eminent  member  of  Congress, 
north  of  the  Potomac,  to  open  the  war,  at  the  right 
point,  upon  that  tariff  of  182S,  then  undergoing  the 
process  of  incubation  through  the  instrumentality  of 
a  Convention  to  sit  a  Harrisburg.  His  speech  at 
Albany,  in  July,  1827,  openly  characterized  that 
measure  as  a  political  manosuvre  to  influence  the  im 
pending  presidential  election;  and  the  graphic  expres 
sion,  "a  measure  proceeding  more  from  the  CLOSET 
of  the  POLITICIAN  than  from  the  WORKSHOP  of  the 
MANUFACTURER,"  so  opportunely  and  felicitously 
used  in  that  speech,  soon  became  the  opinion  of  the 
public,  and  subsequentlyreceived  the  impress  of  veri- 

15 


APPENDIX. 

fication  from  the  abandonment,  and  the  manner  of 
abandoning,  of  the  whole  fabric  of  the  high  tariff 
policy.  Failing  to  carry  any  body  into  the  Presi 
dential  chair,  its  doom  pronounced  by  the  election 
of  Jackson  and  Van  Buren,*  it  was  abandoned,  as  it 
had  been  created,  upon  a  political  calculation;  and 
expired  under  a  fiat  emanating,  not  from  the  viork- 
shop  of  the  manufacturer,  but  from  the  closet  of 
the  politician. — True,  that  Mr.  Van  Buren  voted 
for  the  tariff  of  1828,  notwithstanding  his  speech  of 
1827;  but,  equally  true,  that  he  voted  under  instruc 
tions  from  his  State  Legislature,  and  in  obedience  to 
the  great  democratic  principle  (demon,  the  people, 
krateo,  to  govern)  which  has  always  formed  a  distin 
guished  feature,  and  a  dividing  land-mark,  between 
the  two  great  political  parties  which,  under  whatso 
ever  name,  have  always  existed,  and  still  exist,  in 
our  country. — Sitting  in  the  chair  next  to  him  at  the 
time  of  that  vote,  voting  as  he  did,  and  upon  the 
same  principle;  interchanging  opinions  without  re 
serve,  or  disguise,  it  comes  within  the  perception  of 
my  own  senses  to  know  that  he  felt  great  repugnance 
to  the  provisions  of  that  tariff  act  of  '2S,  and  voted 
for  it,  as  I  did,  in  obedience  to  a  principle  which  we 
both  hold  sacred. 

No  public  man,  since  the  days   of  Mr.  Jefferson 
has  been  pursued  with  more  bitterness  than  Mr.  Van 

*  Over  the  high  tariff  champions,  Clay  and  Sergeant. 


APPENDIX. 

Buren;  none,  not  excepting  Mr.  Jefferson  himself, 
has  ever  had  to  withstand  the  combined  assaults 
of  so  many,  and  such  formidable  powers.  His  prom 
inent  position,  in  relation  to  the  next  Presidency, 
has  drawn  upon  him  the  general  attack  of  other  can 
didates, — themselves  as  well  as  their  friends;  for  in 
these  days,  (how  different  from  former  times!)  candi 
dates  for  the  Presidency  are  seen  to  take  the  field  for 
themselves, — banging  away  at  their  competitors, — 
sounding  the  notes  of  their  own  applause, — and  deal 
ing  in  the  tricks,  and  cant,  of  veteran  cross-road,  or 
alehouse,  electioneerers.  His  old  opposition,  and 
early  declaration  (1826)  against  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  has  brought  upon  him  the  pervading 
vengeance  of  that  powerful  institution;  and  subjected 
him  to  the  vicarious  vituperation  of  subaltern  assail 
ants,  inflamed  with  a  wrath,  not  their  own,  in  what 
soever  spot  that  terrific  institution  maintains  a  branch, 
or  a  press,  retains  an  adherent,  or  holds  a  debtor. 
(It  was  under  the  stimulus,  and  predictions  of  the 
Bank  press,  that  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  rejected  by 
the  Senate  in  1832.)  Yet  in  all  this  combination  of 
powers  against  him,  and  in  all  these  unrelenting  at 
tacks,  there  is  no  specification  of  misconduct.  All 
is  vague,  general,  indefinite,  mysterious.  Mr.  Craw 
ford,  the  most  open,  direct,  and  palpable  of  public 
men,  was  run  down  upon  the  empty  cry  of  "giant 
at,  intrigue!"  a  second  edition  of  that  cry,  now 


172  APPENDIX. 

stereotyped  for  harder  use,  is  expected  to  perform 
the  same  service  upon  Mr.  Van  Buren;  while  the 
originators  and  repeaters  of  the  cry,  in  both  instan 
ces,  have  found  it  equally  impossible  to  specify  a 
case  of  intrigue  in  the  life  of  one,  or  the  other,  of 
these  gentlemen. 

Safety  fund  banks,  is  another  of  those  cries  raised 
against  him;  as  if  there  was  any  thing  in  the  system 
of  those  banks  to  make  the  banking  system  worse; 
or,  as  if  the  money,  and  politics  of  these  safety  fund 
banks,  were  at  the  service  of  Mr.  Van  Buren.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  not  even  pretended  by  his  ene 
mies  that  he  owns  a  single  dollar  of  stock  in  any 
one  of  these  banks!  and  I  have  been  frequently  in 
formed,  from  sources  entitled  to  my  confidence,  that 
he  does  not  own  a  dollar  of  interest  in  any  bank  in 
the  world!  that  he  has  wholly  abstained  from  becom 
ing  the  owner  of  any  bank  stock,  or  taking  an  in 
terest  in  any  company,  incorporated  by  the  Legisla 
ture,  since  he  first  became  a  member  of  that  body, 
above  two-and-twenty  years  ago.  And  as  for  the 
politics  of  the  safety  fund  banks,  it  has  been  recent 
ly  and  authentically  shown  that  a  vast  majority  of 
them  are  under  the  control  of  his  most  determined 
and  active  political  opponents. 

No  public  man  has  been  more  opposed  to  the  ex 
tension  of  the  banking  system  than  Mr.  Van  Buren. 
The  journals  of  the  New-York  Legislature  show 


APPENDIX.  173 

that  the  many  years  during  which  he  was  a  promi 
nent  member  of  that  body,  he  exerted  himself  in  a 
continued  and  zealous  opposition  to  the  increase  of 
banks;  and,  upon  his  elevation  to  the  Chief  Magis 
tracy  of  the  State,  finding  the  system  of  banks  so 
incorporated  with  the  business  and  interests  of  the 
People,  as  to  render  its  abolishment  impossible,  he 
turned  his  attention  to  its  improvement,  and  to  the  es 
tablishment  of  such  guards  against  fraudulent,  or  even 
unfortunate  bankruptcy,  as  would,  under  all  circum 
stances,  protect  the  holders  of  notes  against  loss.  The 
safety  fund  system  was  the  result  of  views  of  this  kind; 
and  if  its  complete  success  hitherto  (for  no  bank  has 
failed  under  it,)  and  the  continued  support  and  con 
fidence  of  the  representatives  of  two  millions  of 
people,  are  not  sufficient  to  attest  its  efficacy,  there 
is  one  consideration  at  least,  which  should  operate 
so  far  in  its  favor  as  to  save  it  from  the  sneers  of 
those  who  cannot  tell  what  the  safety  fund  system  is; 
and  that  is,  the  perfect  ease  and  composure  with 
which  the  whole  of  these  banks  rode  out  the  storm 
of  Senatorial  and  United  States  Bank  assault,  panic, 
and  pressure,  upon  them  last  winter!  This  consid 
eration-  should  save  Mr.  Van  Buren  from  the  censure 
of  some  people,  if  it  cannot  attract  their  applause. 
For  the  rest,  he  is  a  real  hard  money  man;  opposed 
to  the  paper  system — in  favor  of  a  national  currency 

of  gold — in  favor  of  an  adequate  silver  currency  for 
15* 


174  APPENDIX. 

common  use — against  the  small  note  currency — and 
in  favor  of  confining  bank  notes  to  their  appropriate 
sphere  and  original  function,  that  of  large  notes  for 
large  transactions,  and  mercantile  operations. 

Non-committal,  is  another  of  the  flippant  phrases, 
got  by  rote,  and  parroted  against  Mr.  Van  Buren. 
He  never  commits  himself,  say  these  veracious  ob 
servers!  he  never  shows  his  hand,  till  he  sees  which 
way  the  game  is  going!  Is  this  true?  Is  their  any 
foundation  for  it?  On  the  contray,  is  it  not  contra 
dicted  by  public  and  notorious  facts?  by  the  uniform 
tenor  of  his  entire  public  life  for  near  a  quarter  of  a 
century?  To  repeat  nothing  of  what  has  been  said  of 
his  opposition  to  the  first  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
his  support  of  Vice  President  Clinton  for  giving  the 
casting  vote  against  the  recharter  of  that  institution, 
his  support  of  Governor  Tompkins,  in  the  extraordi 
nary  measure  of  proroguing  the  New- York  Legisla 
ture,  to  prevent  the  metempsychosis  of  the  Bank, 
and  its  revivification,  in  the  City  of  New-York;  to 
repeat  nothing  of  all  this,  and  of  his  undaunted  and 
brilliant  support  of  the  war,  from  its  beginning  to  its 
end,  I  shall  refer  only  to  what  has  happened  in  my 
own  time,  and  under  my  own  eyes.  His  firm,  and 
devoted,  support  of  Mr.  Crawford,  in  the  contest  of 
1824,  when  that  eminent  citizen,  prostrate  with  dis 
ease,  and  inhumanly  assailed,  seemed  to  be  doomed 
to  inevitable  defeat;  was  that  non-committal?  His 


APPENDIX.  175 

early  espousal  of  General  Jackson's  cause,  after  the 
election  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  Februa 
ry,  1825,  and  his  steadfast  opposition  to  Mr.  Adams's 
administration;  was  that  non-committal?  His  prom 
inent  stand  against  the  Panama  Mission,  when  that 
mission  was  believed  to  be  irresistibly  popular,  and 
was  pressed  upon  the  Senate  to  crush  the  opposition 
members;  was  that  also  a  wily  piece  of  non-commit 
tal  policy?  His  declaration  against  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States  in  the  year  1S26;  was  that  the  conduct 
of  a  man  waiting  to  see  the  issue  before  he  could 
take  his  side?  The  removal  of  the  deposits,  and  the 
panic  scene  of  last  winter,  in  which  so  many  gave 
way,  and  so  many  others  folded  their  arms  until  the 
struggle  was  over,  while  Mr.  Van  Buren,  both  by  his 
own  conduct,  and  that  of  his  friends,  gave  an  undaun 
ted  support  to  that  masterly  stroke  of  the  President; 
is  this  also  to  be  called  a  non-committal  line  of  con 
duct,  and  the  evidence  of  a  temper  that  sees  the  issue 
before  it  decides?  The  fact  is,  this  ridculous  and 
nonsensical  charge,  is  so  unfounded  and  absurd,  so 
easily  refuted,  and  not  only  refuted,  but  turned  to  the 
honor  and  advantage  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  that  his  friends 
might  have  run  the  risk  of  being  suspected  of  having 
invented  it  themselves,  and  put  it  into  circulation,  just 
to  give  some  others  of  his  friends  a  brilliant  opportuni 
ty  of  emblazoning  his  merits!  were  it  not  that  the  blind 
enmity  of  his  competitors  has  put  the  accusation  upon 


176  APPENDIX. 

record,  and  enabled  his  friends  to  exculpate  them 
selves,  and  to  prove  home  the  original  charge  against 
his  undisputed  opponents. 

For  one  thing  Mr.  Van  Buren  has  reason  to  be 
thankful  to  his  enemies;  it  is,  for  having  began  the 
war  upon  him  so  soon!  There  is  time  enough  yet  for 
truth  and  justice  to  do  their  office,  and  to  dispel 
every  cloud  of  prejudice  which  the  jealously  of  ri 
vals,  the  vengeance  of  the  Bank,  and  the  ignorance 
of  dupes,  has  hung  over  his  name. 

Union,  harmony,  self-denial,  concession — every 
thing  for  the  cause,  nothing  for  men — should  be  the 
watchword,  and  motto  of  the  democratic  party. 

Disconnected  from  the  election — a  voter,  and  not 
a  candidate — having  no  object  in  view  but  to  preserve 
the  union  of  the  democratic  party,  and  to  prevent 
the  administration  of  the  public  affairs  from  relapsing 
into  hands  that  would  undo  every  thing  ;  hands  that 
would  destroy  every  limit  to  the  constitution,  by 
latitudinous  constructions — which  would  replunge 
the  country  into  debt  and  taxes,  by  the  reckless,  wil 
ful,  systematic,  ungovernable,  headlong,  stubborn, 
support  of  every  wasteful  and  extravagant  expendi 
ture — that  would  re-deliver  the  country  into  the 
hands  of  an  institution  which  has  proved  the  scourge 
of  the  people — and  which  would  instantly  revive  the 
dominion  of  paper  money,  by  arresting  the  progress 
of  the  gold  and  silver  currency :  having  no  object  in 


APPENDIX.  177 

view  but  to  prevent  these  calamities,  I  may  be  per 
mitted  to  say  a  word,  without  incurring  the  imputa 
tion  of  speaking  from  interested  motives,  on  the  vital 
point  of  union  in  the  democratic  party. 

The  obligation  upon  good  men  to  unite,  when  bad 
men  combine,  is  as  clear  in  politics  as  it  is  in  morals. 
Fidelity  to  this  obligation  has,  heretofore,  saved  the 
republic,  and  was  never  more  indispensable  to  its 
safety  than  at  the  present  moment.  The  efforts  made 
urnler  the  elder  Adams,  above  thirty  years  ago,  to 
subvert  the  principles  of  our  Government,  produced 
a  union  of  the  productive  and  burthen-bearing 
classes,  in  every  quarter  of  the  republic.  Planters, 
farmers,  laborers,  mechanics,  (with  a  slight  infusion 
from  the  commercial  and  professional  interests,) 
whether  on  this  side  or  that  of  the  Potomac,  whether 
east  or  west  of  the  Alleghany  mountains,  stood  to 
gether  upon  the  principle  of  common  right,  and  the 
serjse  of  common  danger,  and  effected  that  first  great 
union  of  the  democratic  party  which  achieved  the 
civil  revolution  of  1800,  arrested  the  downward 
course  of  the  Government,  and  turned  back  the  na 
tional  administration  to  its  republican  principles,  and 
economical  habits. 

The  sagacious  mind  of  Mr.  Jefferson  well  discern 
ed,  in  the  homogeneous  elements  of  which  this  united 
party  was  composed,  the  appropriate  materials  for  a 
republican  government;  and  to  the  permanent  con^ 


178  APPENDIX. 

junction  of  these  elements,  he  constantly  looked  for 
the  only  insurmountable  barrier  to  the  approaches 
of  oligarchy  and  aristocracy.  Actuated  by  a  zeal 
which  has  never  been  excelled,  for  the  success  and 
perpetuity  of  the  democratic  cause,  he  labored  assi 
duously  in  his  high  oftice,  and  subsequent  retirement, 
in  his  conversations  and  letters,  to  cement,  sustain, 
and  perpetuate  a  party,  on  the  union  and  indivisi 
bility  of  which  he  solely  relied  for  the  preservation 
of  our  republic.  It  was  the  political  power  result 
ing  from  this  auspicious  union,  (to  say  nothing  of 
several  other  occasions,)  which  carried  us  safely  and 
triumphantly  through  the  late  war ;  enabling  the 
Government  to  withstand,  on  one  hand,  the  paraliz- 
ing  machinations  of  a  disaffected  aristocracy,  and  to 
repel  on  the  other,  the  hostile  attacks  of  a  great  na 
tion. 

The  first  relaxation  of  the  ties  which  bound  to 
gether  the  democracy  of  the  North  and  South,  EJast 
and  West,  was  followed  by  the  restoration  to  power 
of  federal  men,  and  the  re-appearance  in  the  admini 
stration  of  federal  doctrines,  and  federal  measures. — 
The  younger  Mr.  Adams  crept  into  power  through 
the  first  breach  that  was  made  in  the  democratic 
ranks  ;  and  immediately  proclaimed  the  fundamental 
principles  which  lie  at  the  bottom  of  ancient  federa 
lism,  and  modern  whiggism — "  the  representative 
not  to  be  palsied  by  the  will  of  his  constituents;"-— 


APPENDIX.  179 

"constitutional  scruples  to  be  solved  in  practical 
blessings;" — two  doctrines,  one  of  which  would 
leave  the  people  without  representatives,  and  the 
other  would  leave  the  Government  without  a  consti 
tution.  The  ultra  federalism  of  this  gentleman's  ad 
ministration,  fortunately  for  the  country,  led  to  the 
re-union  of  those  homogeneous  elements,  by  the  first 
union  of  which  the  elder  Mr.  Adams  had  been  eject 
ed  from  power  ;  and  this  re-union  immediately  pro 
duced  a  second  civil  revolution  not  less  vital  to  the 
republic  than  the  first  one,  of  1800;  a  revolution  to 
which  we  are  indebted  for  the  election  of  a  President 
who  has  turned  back  the  Government,  so  far  as  in 
his  power  lies,  to  the  principles  of  the  constitution, 
and  to  the  practice  of  economy — who  has  directed 
the  action  of  the  Government  to  patriotic  objects — 
saved  the  people  from  the  cruel  dominion  of  a  heart 
less  moneyed  power — withstood  the  combined  as 
saults  of  the  bank,  and  its  allied  Statesmen — and 
frustrated  a  conspiracy  against  the  liberty  and  the 
property  of  the  people,  but  little  less  atrocious  in  its 
design,  and  little  less  disastrous  in  its  intended  ef 
fects,  than  that  conspiracy  from  which  Cicero  deli 
vered  the  Roman  people,  and  for  the  frustration  of 
which  he  was  hailed  by  Cato,  in  the  assembled  pre 
sence  of  all  Rome,  with  the  glorious  appellation  of 
Pater  Patrix — Father  of  his  country. 

The  democracy  of  the  four  quarters  of  the  union, 


APPENDIX. 

now  united,  victorious,  happy  and  secure,  under  the 
administration  of  President  Jackson  ;  shall  it  disband, 
and  fall  to  pieces  the  instant  that  great  man  retires  ? 
This  is  what  federalism  hopes,  foretels,  promotes, 
intrigues,  prays,  and  pants  for.  Shall  this  be — and 
through  whose  fault  ?  Shall  sectional  prejudices, 
lust  of  power,  contention  for  office,  (that  bane  of 
freedom;)  shall  personal  preferences,  so  amiable  in 
private  life,  so  weak  in  politics  ;  shall  these  small 
causes — these  Lilliputian  tactics — be  suffered  to  work 
the  disruption  of  the  democratic  union  ;  to  separate 
the  republican  of  the  South  and  West,  from  his  bro 
ther  of  the  North  and  East?  and,  in  that  separation, 
to  make  a  new  opening  for  the  second  restoration 
of  federalism,  (under  its  alius  dictus  of  whiggism;) 
and  the  permanent  enslavement  of  the  producing, 
and  bur  I  hen-bearing  classes  of  the  community  ? 

Bear  with  me  if  I  speak  without  disguise,  and  say, 
if  these  things  happen,  it  must  be  through  the  fault 
of  the  South  and  West. 

Here  are  the  facts  : 

It  has  so  happened  that,  although  every  Southern 
President  (four  in  number)  and  the  only  Western 
one  (through  his  two  terms)  has  received  the  warm 
support  of  Northern  democracy,  yet  no  Northern 
President  has  ever  yet  received  the  support  of  the 
South  and  West  Hitherto  this  peculiar,  and  one 
sided  result,  has  left  no  sting — created  no  heart 


APPENDIX. 

burnings,  in  the  bosom  of  Northern  democracy,  be 
cause  it  was  the  result,  not  of  sectional  bigotry,  but 
of  facts,  and  principles.  The  administrations  of  the 
two  Northern  Presidents  were  alike  offensive  to 
republicans  of  all  quarters,  and  were  put  down  by 
the  joint  voices  of  a  united  Democracy. 

But  suppose  this  state  of  things  now  to  be  changed, 
and  a  democratic  candidate  to  be  presented  from  the 
North  ;  ought  that  candidate  to  be  opposed  by  the 
democracy  of  the  South  and  West  ?  Suppose  that 
candidate  to  be  one  coming  as  near  to  the  Jeffer- 
sonian  standard,  (to  say  more  might  seem  invidious; 
to  say  that  much  is  enough  for  the  argument,)  sup 
pose  such  a  candidate  to  be  presented  ;  ought  the  de 
mocracy  of  the  South  and  West  to  reject  him  ? — 
Could  they  do  it,  without  showing  a  disposition  to 
monopolize  the  Presidential  office?  and  to  go  on  for 
an  indefinite  succession,  after  having  already  possess 
ed  the  office  for  forty  years,  out  of  forty-eight  ? — 
What  would  be  the  effect  of  such  a  stand,  taken  by, 
the  South  and  West,  on  the  harmony  of  the  demo 
cratic  party  ?  Certainly  to  destroy  it!  What  would 
be  its  effect  on  the  harmony  of  the  States?  Cer 
tainly  to  array  them  against  each  other !  What 
would  be  its  effect  on  the  formation  of  parties  ?  Cer 
tainly  to  change  it  from  the  ground  of  principle,  to 

the  ground  of  territory  !  to  substitute  a  geographical 
16 


APPENDIX. 

basis,  for  the  political  basis,  on  which  parties  now  rest! 
Could  these  things  be  desirable  to  any  friend  of  pop 
ular  government  ?  to  any  considerate  and  reflecting 
man  in  the  South  or  West  ?  On  the  contrary,  should 
not  the  democracy  of  the  South  and  West,  rejoice  at 
an  opportunity  to  show  themselves  superior  to  sec 
tional  bigotry,  devoted  to  principle,  intent  upon  the 
general  harmony,  inaccessible  to  intrigue,  or  to 
weakness;  and  ready  to  support  the  cause  of  de 
mocracy,  whether,  the  representative  of  the  cause 
eomes  from  this,  or  that  side,  of  a  river,  or  a  moun 
tain  ?— A  Southern  and  a  Western  man  myself,  this 
is  the  State  of  my  own  feelings,  and  I  rejoice  to  see 
that  your  convention  has  acted  upon  them.  And  if, 
what  I  have  here  written,  (and  which  I  could  not 
have  written  if  I  had  accepted  the  most  honorable 
and  gratifying  nomination  of  your  convention,)  if  this 
letter,  too  long  for  the  occasion,  but  too  short  for  my 
feelings !  if  it  shall  contribute  to  prevent  the  disrup 
tion  of  the  republican  party,  and  the  consequent  loss 
of  all  the  advantages  recovered  for  the  constitution 
and  the  people,  under  the  administration  of  President 
Jackson,  then  shall  I  feel  the  consolation  of  having 
done  a  better  service  to  the  republic  by  refusing  to 
take,  than  I  can  ever  do,  by  taking  office. 

Hoping  then,  my  dear  sir,  that  the  nomination  of 
your  convention  may  have  its  full  effect  in  favor  of 


APPENDIX. 

Mr.  Van  Buren,  and  that  it  may  be  entirely  forgot 
ten,  so  far  as  it  regards  myself,  except  in  the  grateful 
recollections  of  my  own  bosom,  I  remain  most  truly 
and  sincerely,  yours, 

THOMAS  H.  BENTON. 
Maj,  Gen.  DAVIS,  Manchester,  Mississippi. 


Substance  of  Mr.  VAN  BUREN 's  Speech,  in  1824, 
in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  in  favor  of 
the  bill  abolishing  imprisonment  for  debt. 

[One  of  the  first  measures  proposed  by  Mr.  Van  Buren  as  a 
member  of  the  Legislature  of  New-York,  was  a  bill  to  abolish  im 
prisonment  for  debt,  except  in  cases  of  fraud,  malicious  injury, 
and  groos  breach  of  trust.  For  several  years  in  succession  he  in 
troduced  and  warmly  urged  bills  to  this  effect,  in  the  State  Sen 
ate,  and  at  length  suceeded  in  obtaining  the  concurrence  of  that 
body;  but  as  the  bill  failed  in  the  Assembly,  this  great  improve 
ment  in  jurisprudence,  was  not  ultimately  adopted  in  New- York, 
until  some  years  after  he  had  been  transferred  to  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States.  In  that  body  he  also  distinguished  himself, 
along  with  Col.  JOHNSON  and  others,  in  endeavouring  to  efface 
this  relic  of  barbarism  from  our  national  system.  The  following 
is  a  brief  outline  of  one  of  his  speeches  on  the  subject.  The 
sketch  is  quite  imperfect,  but  will  repay  an  attentive  perusal.] 

Mr.  VAN  BUREN,  said  that  his  preference  for  the 
bill  was  founded  on  an  entire  conviction,  that  whilst 
it  secured  to  the  creditor  means  for  the  collection  of 
his  debt,  of  far  greater  efficacy  than  those  now  al 
lowed  by  law,  it  would,  in  all  the  cases  which  are 


184  APPENDIX. 

subject  to  its  operation,  effectually  remove  that  foul 
stain  upon  our  jurisprudence — the  power  of  a  cred 
itor  to  deprive  his  debtor  of  his  liberty,  on  account 
of  his  inability  to  pay  the  debt  he  ows; — a  power 
which  confounds  the  distinction  between  virtue  and 
vice,  and  which,  contrary  to  the.  fitness  of  things, 
awards  the  same  measure  of  punishment  for  misfor 
tune  as  for  fraud,  but  in  its  practical  operation  inflicts 
that  punishment  upon  the  unfortunate  only,  whilst 
the  really  guilty  laugh  at  its  impotent  and  unavail 
ing  provisions. 

Mr.  V.  B.  would  first  consider  the  effect  of  the 
bill,  upon  the  ability  of  the  creditor  to  collect  his 
debt  On  this  point  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the 
debt  can  only  be  paid  by  property.  To  reach  that, 
then,  is  the  only  object.  Beyond  that,  it  is  conced 
ed  by  all,  that  imprisonment  is  not  only  useless  but 
indefensible. 

By  the  existing  law,  bail  is  allowed  on  mesne  pro 
cess,  and  jail  limits  on  an  execution  against  the  body. 
Those  who  have  the  property  you  are  in  pursuit  of, 
will  get  bail  for  both  these  objects.  This  we  know. 
Now  wrhat  is  the  character  of  such  imprisonment  and 
what  are  its  effects?  In  this  respect,  the  state  laws 
govern.  In  their  legislatures,  the  same  disposition 
has  been  manifested,  which  is  every  where  evinced, 
when  the  subject  is  acted  upon — that  is  to  say — an 
entire  willingness  to  surrender  the  substance,  ac- 


APPENDIX.  185 

companied  by  a  mysterious  adherence  to  the  form. 
The  jail  limits  are  in  some  places  parts  of  the  town 
or  city  where  the  jail  is  situated;  in  others,  the 
whole  town  or  city;  and  in  many  cases  the  whole 
county.  What  can  the  debtor  do  who  has  property 
to  pay  his  debts  but  is  destitute  of  the  inclination  and 
the  honesty  to  apply  it?  He  can  take  a  house  with 
in  the  limits,  partake  of  the  domestic  comforts  of 
his  family,  and  live  in  such  style  as  his  inclination 
suggests  and  his  means  allow  of. 

On  this  point  other  Senators  will  speak  from  their 
own  observation :  according  to  his  experience  and 
observation,  Mr.  Van  Buren  thought  that  in  the 
great  mass  of  cases,  the  existing  remedy  was  wholly 
inefficacious,  to  wrest  the  property  of  an  unwilling 
debtor  from  his  grasp.  Let  us  now  look  to  the  ef 
fect  of  the  substitute  proposed.  What  is  that  sub 
stitute  ?— It  is  the  reverse  of  the  present  system.  It 
makes  imprisonment  what  it  should  be — a  harsh 
means  to  secure  a  justifiable  end.  If  the  debtor  con 
templates  a  fraud  upon  his  creditor — if  he  intends  to 
betray  the  trust  reposed  in  him  by  withdrawing  his 
person  from  the  process  necessary  to  arrive  at  his 
property,  he  may,  on  the  oath  of  the  creditor,  be 
arrested,  and  subjected  to  close  custody,  unless  he 
gives  bail  that  he  will  be  forthcoming.  If  a  debtor 
has  practiced  a  fraud  upon  his  creditor,  by  concealing 
or  transferring  his  property,  to  evade  the  payment 
16* 


1SQ  APPENDIX. 

of  his  debts,  or  even  by  so  investing  it  as  to  exempt 
it  from  execution,  the  creditor,  on  an  affidavit  of  his 
suspicion  only,  may  arrest  him  ;  may  subject  the 
fact  to  judicial  examination,  and  hold  him  to  bail  for 
his  appearance,  to  abide  the  result  of  such  examina 
tion.  He  may,  by  the  amendment  of  the  gentleman 
from  Delaware,  examine  the  debtor  on  oath,  and 
confront  him  with  his  trustees  and  confederates,  and 
if  the  fact  is  found  against  him,  by  a  jury  of  his 
country,  his  condition  is  changed,  and  from  the 
mere  delinquency  of  a  debtor,  his  situation  becomes 
assimilated,  in  a  great  degree,  to  that  of  the  felon. — 
And  the  treatment  he  thereafter  receives,  is  as  it 
ought  to  be,  of  a  similar  character. 

Instead  of  residing  in  the  bosom  of  his  family,  riot 
ing  on  the  fruits  of  his  fraud,  whilst  his  more  honest 
creditor  and  his  family  are  deprived  of  their  bread 
by  their  misplaced  confidence,  he  will  be  stripped  of 
these  indulgences;  he  will  be  torn  from  the  parental 
board  which  he  contaminates,  and  from  a  society 
which  he  corrupts,  and  placed  where  he  ought  to  be, 
in  the  walls  of  a  prison,  under  the  restraints  of  grates 
and  bars.  The  character  of  fair  dealing  between 
man  and  man,  is  promoted,  when  the  guilty  are  pu 
nished.  Mr.  V.  B.  appealed  to  every  man  of  reflec 
tion  to  tell  him  whether  he  was  not  satisfied  that 
means  like  these  will  go  further  to  secure  the  real 


APPENDIX.  187 

interests  of  the  creditor,  than  the  pitiful  and  intricate 
machinery  of  the  present  system  ? 

In  addition  to  this  is  the  right  given  by  the  pro 
posed  bill  to  imprison,  on  evidence  of  the  conceal 
ment  of  the  fraudulent  debtor.  This  feature  is  desi 
rable — not  only  because  it  secures  the  punishment 
of  the  guilty,  but  because  it  markes  the  distinc 
tion  between  fraud  and  misfortune,  the  great  point 
which  has  always  been  desired  by  the  friends  of 
humanity.  It  is  not  the  privations  of  the  fraudu 
lent,  which  have  so  constantly  excited  the  disciples 
of  philanthropy.  It  never  has  been  any  where  dis 
puted,  that  the  fraudulent  debtor  deserved  all,  and 
more  than  all,  the  stipulated  rigor  of  the  present  law. 
But  it  has  been  because  what  he  deserved,  had  been 
heaped  upon  the  head  of  the  innocent  and  the  un 
fortunate,  that  so  much  sympathy  had  been  excited. 
That  distinction,  if  the  bill  passes,  will  be  made,  so 
far  as  the  courts  of  the  United  States  are  concerned. 
Those  high  grades  of  fraud  which  add  to  the  breach 
of  moral  obligation  ;  the  violation  of  public  trust, 
(being  the  cases  of  public  officers  embezzling  public 
monies,)  those  of  a  second  grade,  which  consists  in 
the  violation  of  trusts  reposed  by  those  who  have 
gone  to  their  long  account,  ^and  which  are  practised 
to  the  injury  of  the  widow  and  orphan,  (the  case  of 
embezzlement  by  executors,  administrators,  and  guar 
dians)  and  the  simple  frauds  practiced  by  man  upon 


|88  APPENDIX. 

his  fellow  man,  when  dealing  at  arms  length,  all 
when  duly  ascertained  and  proved  will  be  punished 
by  the  provisions  of  this  bill  as  they  deserve.  In 
such  imprisonment  all  will  acquiesce ;  by  it  the 
claims  of  justice  will  be  satisfied,  and  no  moral  feel 
ing  violated.  On  a  man  imprisoned  for  such  cause, 
the  community  would  look  with  feelings  of  indiffer 
ence.  They  might  pity  the  depravity,  and  despise 
the  meanness  of  spirit,  which  had  brought  him  to  that 
condition;  but  real  sympathy  would,  in  such  cases,  be 
strangers  to  their  bosoms.  But  imprisonment  of  the 
unfortunate  debtor,  whether  it  consists  of  many  or 
a  few,  ought  every  where  to  be  regarded  as  an 
outrage  upon  the  moral  sense  of  a  civilized  and  Chris 
tian  community.  Such  are  the  provisions  of  the 
bill  on  the  table  ;  and  such  the  additional  remedies 
given  to  the  creditor. 

Now  what  are  the  rights  of  the  creditor  surren 
dered? — they  consist — 

1st.  In  the  privilege  of  arbitrary  arrest  or  mesne 
process. 

2d.  In  arbitrary  imprisonment  on  execution. 

As  to  the  first.  By  the  law  as  it  will  stand  if  the 
bill  passes,  the  creditor,  on  his  own  affidavit,  of  the 
existence  of  the  debt,  and  apprehension  of  departure, 
may  arrest.  By  the  law,  as  it  now  stands,  in  most  of 
the  states,  the  creditor  may,  without  proof  of  the 
debt,  hold  thej>erson  whom  he  chooses  to  coosider 


APPENDIX.  189 

his  debtor,  to  bail,  in  any  amount  he  pleases,  and 
imprison  him  at  least  for  a  season,  unless  he  obtains 
bail.  Is  this  right  ?  Contrast  it  with  proceedings 
for  crime.  No  man  can  be  arrested  for  any  crime, 
not  even  for  the  lowest,  without  previous  affidavit  of 
crime  committed,  and  suspicion,  at  least,  as  to  the 
author,  and  after  arrest,  he  cannot  be  committed 
without  previous  and  full  examination  of  the  circum 
stances  upon  which  that  suspicion  rests.  But  in  a 
civil  case,  a  man  may  be  arrested  and  committed  for 
trial,  at  the  will  and  pleasure  of  his  fellow  citizens 
Is  there  not  a  repugnance  in  these  provisions  as  re 
volting  to  our  feeling,  as  it  is  destructive  of  sound 
policy  ?  Will  any  man  believe,  that  if  any  legisla 
ture  of  any  country  were  to  sit  down  to  form  a  sys 
tem  combining  both  subjects,  one  involving  such 
discrepancy  would  be  adopted  ?  They  surely  would 
not.  Mr.  V.  B.  put  the  question  to  honorable  Sena 
tors,  if  the  whole  matter  was  before  you,  and  you 
were  now,  for  the  first  time,  to  act  upon  it,  would 
you  do  so?  Every  honorable  member  will  at  once 
answer  that  he  would  not,  and  still  we  are  content  to 
acquiesce  in  what  is,  because  it  has  been,  and  to  con 
tinue  the  toleration  of  abuses  plain  and  manifest  as 
the  meridian  sun,  rather  than  give  ourselves  the  trou 
ble  to  break  the  fetters  by  which  sturdy  habit  has 
bound  us. 

As  to  the  second.     The  right  of  arbitrary  impri* 


190  APPENDIX. 

sonment  on  the  execution,  without  fraud  or  conceal- 
ment  proved.  Upon  whom  does  it  fall?  Mr.  V.  B. 
had  already  shown  that  those  who  have  property  will 
get  bail.  It  is  therefore  the  poor  and  friendless  only 
who  feel  its  rigor.  Its  inhumanity  and  its  injustice 
as  it  bears  upon  them,  are  too  manifest  to  need  eluci 
dation.  All  acquiesce,  or,  at  least,  seem  to  do  so,  in 
this  view  of  the  case.  In  a  word,  it  is  punishment 
without  guilt,  which  no  man  will  approve.  It  is 
punishment  without  expiation — punishment  at  which 
the  best  feelings  of  our  nature  revolt.  In  criminal 
cases,  by  the  lapse  of  time,  the  measure  of  personal 
suffering  becomes  full,  and  the  claims  of  public  jus 
tice  are  satisfied.  Not  so  with  the  imprisoned  debtor. 
The  sun  rises  and  the  sun  sets  ;  but  his  condition  re 
mains  the  same,  and  if  death  sets  his  spirit  free,  the 
creditor  not  only  succeeds  to  his  deod  body,  but  to 
whatever  estate  accident  may  have  devolved  upon 
him.  Imprisonment  is  not  only  of  such  character 
and  consequence  to  the  unfortunate  debtor  himself, 
but  its  injurious  consequences,  without  benefitting  the 
creditor,  embrace  the  still  more  innocent  family  of 
the  debtor,  by  depriving  them  of  all  means  of  sup 
port. — More  and  worse  than  this — operate  as  a  pub 
lic  injury,  by  preparing  its  subject  for  the  commis 
sion  of  crime,  by  destroying  his  pride  of  character, 
and  by  corrupting  his  principles;  so  that  when  he  in 
Again  let  loose  upon  society,  by  the  humanity  of  the 


APPENDIX. 

insolvent  laws,  or  the  relenting  disposition  of  the 
creditor,  he  comes  forth  a  confirmed  misanthropist, 
if  not  a  ready  depredator  on  the  property  of  others. 
Viewed  therefore  in  whatever  light  it  may  be,  the 
imprisonment  of  the  unfortunate  debtor  is  a  matter 
of  unmixed  mischief,  which  ought  no  where  to  be 
tolerated,  which  is  no  where  justified  in  terms, 
though  it  is  supported  in  substance. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  said  he  would  now  consider  the 
character  and  effect  of  the  imprisonment  now  allow 
ed.  What  are  its  advantages? — It  is  justified  as  a 
means  to  compel  the  debtor  to  disgorge  concealed 
property.  Mr.  V.  B.  had  already  shown  that  as  to 
him  who  has  property  to  disgorge,  and  can  therefore 
secure  the  privilege  of  the  limits,  the  measure  is 
wholly  inoperative. 

Upon  those  who  have  no  property,  it  is  not  only 
wholly  ineffectual,  but  very  oppressive.  It  is  pun 
ishing  first  and  enquiring  afterwards.  It  is  inflict 
ing  severe  chastisement  for  a  supposed  injury  to  an 
individual,  constituting  the  injured  party  both  judge 
and  jury.  It  partakes  of  the  character  of  the  rack, 
putting  its  victim  to  the  torture,  without  knowing 
whether  he  has  any  thing  to  confess  or  not.  It  is 
said  that  to  repeal  the  old  law,  would  deprive  the 
creditor  of  one  of  his  securities.  As  the  bill  now 
stands,  with  its  operation  confined  to  contracts  which 


192  APPENDIX. 

are  made  after  the  fourth  of  July  next,  it  cannot  be 
said  to  deprive  the  creditor  of  any  security  which 
he  possessed,  at  the  time  of  entering  into  the  con 
tract.  It  can  therefore  only  be  objectionable,  if  ob 
jectionable  at  all,  because  it  will  prevent  the  taking 
of  future  securities  of  that  character.  Mr.  V.  B. 
said,  that  with  him  the  greatest  merit  of  the  bill  was 
that  it  produces  that  effect.  Mr.  V.  B.  agreed  fully 
with  a  distinguished  writer,  who  says,  that  he  who 
trusts,  with  a  design  to  sue,  is  criminal  by  the  act. 
What  is  it? — Strip  the  transaction  of  the  drapery  of 
courts,  officers,  and  forms  of  proceeding,  which  are 
but  the  instruments  of  the  law,  to  give  effect  to  the 
contract  as  made  between  the  parties,  and  suppose 
the  contract  to  express  all  that  by  the  law,  as  it  stands, 
it  implies.  It  would  then  provide  that  if  the  debtor 
failed  on  the  appointed  day  to  pay  the  debt  he  had 
contracted,  it  should  be  lawful  for  the  creditor  to  tear 
him  from  his  family,  and  to  restrain  him  of  his  liber 
ty,  by  confining  him  within  prison  walls,  whether 
his  inability  to  pay  arose  from  misfortune  or  fault,  and 
whilst  so  confined  to  leave  him  to  be  sustained  by  his 
own  resources,  or  if  he  had  none  by  the  charity  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  until  lie  should  be  discharged  by 
their  humanity,  or  the  humanity  of  the  laws  of  his 
country.  Suppose  a  contract  thus  actually  written 
out — what  would  a  Christian  community  say  to  such 


APPENDIX.  193 

a  bargain  ?  In  what  portion  of  this  country  would 
the  man  who  had  dared  to  enter  into  it,  venture  to 
expose  his  person  to  the  hisses  of  his  fellow-citizens? 
And  still  this  is  but  the  unvarnished  statement  of  a 
transaction  which,  when  disguised  by  the  interven 
tion  of  courts,  and  consecrated  by  immemorial  usage, 
receives  the  vigorous  support  of  some  of  the  best  and 
wisest  men  that  our  country  produces.  Sir,  said 
Mr.  V.  B.  I  am  for  breaking  up  contracts  of  this 
character.  I  would  dissolve  this  alliance  which  is 
supposed  to  exist  between  the  counting  house  and  the 
jail.  I  would  compel  men  to  conduct  their  dealings 
on  higher  and  better  principles,  and  to  look  to  better 
grounds  of  reliance,  than  to  bailiffs  and  turnkeys. — 
I  would  have  them  depend  upon  the  character  or 
property  of  those  with  whom  they  deal ;  and  rest  as 
sured  the  best  results  would  flow  from  the  establish 
ment  of  such  a  system.  It  cannot  be  necessary  to 
state,  that  in  all  dealings  upon  credit,  the  terms  of  the 
contract  will  be  greatly  controlled  by  the  nature  of 
the  security.  What  must  be  the  terms  of  those  bar 
gains  which  mainly  depend  upon  a  security  of  this 
description  ?  Can  they  be  otherwise  than  the  opera 
tions  of  griping  avarice  upon  helpless  poverty,  or  of 
cupidity  and  cunning  upon  improvident  and  danger 
ous  speculations  ?  They  must,  in  the  nature  of 
things  be  of  this  character.  If  this  system  be  abo- 
17 


194  APPENDIX. 

lished,  those  who  desire  credit  will  pursue  a  diffe 
rent  course  to  obtain  it.  They  will  seek  to  inspire 
confidence  by  industry,  probity,  and  punctuality.— 
By  this  course  they  will  be  sure  to  obtain  it,  and  the 
credit  they  thus  obtain  will  elevate  their  character, 
increase  their  happiness,  and  benefit  the  community. 

It  is  further  objected  that  the  alteration  of  the  sys 
tem  will  impair  credit.  Mr.  V.  B.  had  already 
stated  what  species  of  credit  it  must  necessarily  be, 
which  would  be  thus  impaired,  and  how  little  objec 
tion  exists  against  putting  a  check  upon  such  credit. 
But  what  reason  is  there  to  believe  that  this  appre 
hended  effect  upon  credit,  would  be  produced.  In 
this,  as  in  all  other  cases,  speculation  must  yield  to 
fact,  or  you  are  led  into  error. 

The  suggestions  of  experience  must  be  listened  to. 
How  stands  the  fact  ?  What  is  the  condition  of  the 
credit  most  prevalent  in  the  country  ;  that  on  which 
nine-tenths  of  the  every  day  business  of  the  country 
rests  ?  It  is  bank  paper.  And  what  security  does 
the  holder  of  a  bank  note  ask  or  receive,  when  he 
takes  it  ?  The  right  to  imprison  the  drawer  ?  No  ! 
he  never  thinks  of  it.  He  will  sell  his  estate,  and 
take  in  payment  the  notes  of  associated  individuals., 
without  its  ever  occurring  to  him,  that  the  right  to 
imprison  the  drawer,  is  not  secured  to  him;  but  if  he 
sells  a  horse,  or  a  cow,  and  takes  the  note  of  a  single 


APPENDIX.  £95 

individual,  he  deems  it  a  matter  of  vital  importance, 
that  his  lien  upon  the  body  of  debtors  should  be  pro 
tected  by  the  strongest  statutes.  When  you  pay  an 
annual  premium  to  secure  your  houses  against  the 
flames,  or  your  vessels  against  winds  and  waves,  do 
you  think  of  the  right  to  imprison  ?  No.  But  when 
we  dole  out  a  miserable  pittance  of  their  cargo,  this 
hankering  after  corporeal  security  posseses  us.  Such 
are  the  miserable  contradictions  into  which  we  are 
led  by  the  blind  force  of  habit.  But  suppose  a 
check  is  put  to  credit.  Is  it  certain  that  such  a  re 
sult  would  be  an  evil?  Mr.  V.  B.  thought  not. — 
He  thought,  on  the  contrary,  that  much  of  the  dis 
tress  which  has  prevailed,  and  in  some  places  conti 
nues  to  prevail,  arose  from  the  unrestrained  credit 
which  has  been  given  in  this  country.  It  has  led  to 
extravagancies  in  every  form.  In  the  manner  of 
living,  in  buildings,  in  equipages,  in  dress  and  orna 
ments,  in  every  thing,  you  have  seen  its  pernicious 
influence.  The  frugal  habits  of  our  ancestors  who 
dealt  in  the  property  they  actually  had,  have  given 
way  to  the  prodigality  of  those  who  deal  in  the  ideal 
capital  which  credit  has  given  them,  and  the  conse 
quence  has  been  that  we  hare  lost  that  independence 
our  ancestors  possessed.  Without  enlarging  upon  the 
subject,  Mr.  V.  B.  was  satisfied,  that  a  check  to  cre 
dit,  so  far  from  being  objectionable,  was  desirable. 


198  APPENDIX. 

We  have  seen  that  we  cannot  check  the  improvi 
dence  of  the  debtor  ;  let  us  therefore  endeavor  to  re 
strain  the  cupidity  of  the  creditor.  In  every  point 
of  view,  therefore,  in  which  he  had  been  able  to 
consider  the  subject,  Mr.  V.  B.  was  decidedly  in  fa 
vor  of  the  bill;  and  he  trusted  it  would  receive  the 
approbation  of  Congress,  and  of  the  country. 


A  CARD, 

Democratic  friends  in  all  parts  of  the 
Union  disposed  to  circulate  this  work,  are 
informed,  that  all  orders  directed  to  the  pub- 
lisjier  for  copies  either  in  sheets  or  bound, 
(postpaid,)  will  be  promptly  attended  to. 

WM.  EMMONS. 
Washington,  Feb.  1835. 


FOURTEEN  DAV  TTSF 

RETURN     CIRCULATION  DEPARTMENT 

TO—  ^      202  Main  Library 

LOAN  PERIOD  1 
HOME  USE 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

Renewals  and  Recharges  may  be  made  4  days  prior  to  the  due  date. 

Books  may  be  Renewed  by  calling     642-3405. 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


FORM  NO.  DD6, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 
BERKELEY,  CA  94720 


PS 


C- 

6 


YB  3743 f 


306717 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


«.   * . 


